More Trouble than I'm Worth 4: New Life
by Rose Stetson
Summary: Sam returns home from her trip to Orilla to find herself in a rather surprising set of circumstances. Fourth part in the "More Trouble Than I'm Worth" series.
1. Rest

**NEW LIFE**

Rose Stetson

_Two hours after the end of "Odyssey":_

"Colonel Carter."

Teal'c's voice reached the depths of her subconscious. As she became aware, the dream which she had been enveloped in dissipated. By the time her eyes opened a few seconds later, she couldn't remember any of the details. "Teal'c?" She asked, trying to wake herself.

"You did not heed my suggestion." He said as she looked up and found herself in the engine room.

"Sorry, Teal'c." She said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "I really wasn't tired then...I mean, maybe a little, but that's normal..."

"You must rest." He said, seriously.

"No, I'm fine. I've recharged my batteries. I'm great."

He eyed her skeptically.

"Look, General Landry wants these reports when we get back. I'm just trying to catch up." She said, returning her attention to her laptop.

Teal'c placed a firm hand on her shoulder as she tried to continue her work. "You must rest." He insisted.

"Okay, okay..." She said, pulling away from the laptop. "I'll take a nap. Happy?"

He nodded.

She couldn't help but chuckle. "You know where to find me if you need me."

"We will not."

"Okay..." She said, still mystified. "If you say so..."

"I do."

"Then, I'll...see you later..." She said, leaving the engine room.

What was up with Teal'c?

--

_Two days later:_

Sam looked behind her as she walked toward the dining room table.

Daniel looked up from his notes, and caught her strange antics. He watched her, curiously.

She turned around, and jumped. "Oh, Daniel..."

"Hi." He said, giving her a small smile. "What's going on?"

"Is Teal'c behind me?" She asked, looking behind her.

"Uh...no." He said, shaking his head.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Good."

He studied Sam as she sat down across from him. "What's going on?"

"Have you noticed anything...weird...over the last couple of days?" She asked, looking over at him.

"Besides that...James Bond routine you just did?" He asked, cheekily.

She gave him a patronizing smile. "No, I mean...have you noticed Teal'c acting weird lately?"

"Uh...no." He said, shaking his head. "Why?"

"Because he keeps following me around, bringing me milk, and telling me that I should "rest"."

He gave her a strange look.

"Weird, right?"

"Yeah." He said, nodding. "But...you're not exactly the poster girl for a good night's sleep."

"Says the poster boy for insomnia." She countered.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I haven't noticed anything weird. And...maybe he's right. You probably need to take it easy until we get home."

"I think he switched my coffee to Decaf, Daniel. Why would he do that?" She asked, seriously.

"Maybe because you're acting like that..." He said, taking a sip of his own coffee. "Look, I need to get back to translating the Asgard database."

"Of course...go ahead." She said, eating her salad.

"Teal'c's probably just keeping an eye on you. Don't let it weird you out, okay?"

"Okay." She conceded.

--

_A week later:_

"Tell me he's doing something similar to you." Sam said as she jogged with Vala down the corridors of the _Odyssey_.

"Um...he's doing something similar to me." She lied.

"He is?"

"No, he's not." Vala admitted.

"It's not like I don't appreciate that he's worried about me, but...it's weird, you know?"

Vala laughed. "Sam, you don't know the meaning of the word "weird". Weird is getting dumped in a forest on a planet you've never even heard of, getting rescued by a man who can't walk normally, and being impregnated by the Ori."

"That's true." Sam said, nodding. "But...still...I can't shake the feeling that Teal'c knows something he's not going to tell me. Something like...I die in the first few weeks of the time dilation field because of overexertion."

Vala shook her head. "That's not possible, Sam. If it were, we wouldn't be back here doing what we're doing. You're the only scientist we have on board."

"True." Sam said as they paused. "But still..."

"Hey, we were stuck in the field for fifty years, weren't we?" Vala asked, looking at Sam seriously.

"Yes." She nodded.

"Well, fifty years is a long time to be single. And since you and I are the only females on board, maybe you and Muscles..."

Sam wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Agh! Me and...Teal'c...I don't think so."

"Why not? He's handsome, sweet and he's obviously crazy about you."

Sam shuddered. "Okay. That's enough."

Vala looked up at the ceiling somewhat absently. "I wonder who I was with...couldn't have been Daniel. Maybe it was Mitchell..."

Sam rolled her eyes as she continued her jog. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear the end of the ramblings of one Vala Maldoran.


	2. Pregnant

_Three weeks after end of "Unending":_

Sam stared at the pregnancy test in her hands. To say that she was stunned would have been an understatement.

No wonder Teal'c had been so weird on the _Odyssey_.

The idea that she had given birth to a child on that ship and then erased him or her from her memory and from the space-time continuum made her dizzy and sick inside.

She threw the test away before getting into her car.

Everything was a blur until she realized that she was standing in the rain outside Jack's apartment building in Washington, D.C. A shiver ran down her spine, and she rubbed her arms with her hands. This was crazy, she thought to herself. How had she not noticed how cold she was getting?

"Sam?" Jack asked from the door. "What are you doing here? It's raining. Get in here."

He helped her get into the apartment building.

"How did you know I was here?" She asked, shivering unconsciously.

"Doorman recognized you. Tried to call you in a few minutes ago, but you didn't answer so he called me. What's going on?" He asked as they entered the elevator.

"Long story..." She whispered as she inhaled softly.

He raised an eyebrow in concern as they rode the elevator up to the top floor. He helped her into the corridor before the doors closed. He guided her into the apartment. "Get out of those wet clothes. I'll get you something to change into."

She nodded.

"I want you to take a warm shower too, okay?"

"Yes, sir." She said, mechanically.

He looked back at her somewhat confused before he went into the bedroom. He returned a few moments later with an Air Force tee and some drawstring sweat pants. "They're going to be too big, but..." He noticed the look of shock on her face. "I guess you're not going to care about that."

"Thank you." She said, accepting the clothes.

"Sam, what's going on?" He asked, looking at her seriously. "Something happen to the team? Daniel? Teal'c?"

"No...they're fine." She said, shaking her head. She looked at him for a moment before she swallowed. "It's just...I'm...pregnant..." She finally blurted.

He blinked, shocked.

She inhaled before she slipped into the bathroom and started the shower, silently.

He stood there for a moment before he walked in after her, certain that she was in the shower. "Are you sure?"

She stood behind the shower curtain, feeling the warm water wash over her. She felt water slip down her cheeks, and was unsure whether they were tears or droplets from the water running over her head. "Pretty sure." She said, after a moment.

"Wow..." He said, taking a deep breath. He paused before he glanced toward her. "I take it that...you're not...particularly...happy?"

She took a moment to answer. "I'm...surprised. More than a little shocked..."

"Same here." He admitted.

She peeked out of the shower curtain. "Do you want this baby?" She asked after a long, silent moment.

"Do I wan..." He began with his eyebrows raised in surprise at her question. "Well, it's a surprise, but yes, I want the baby. What about you?"

"I...well...this is unexpected." She said, seriously.

"And..." He said, looking at her expectantly. "So, but, therefore..."

"I want the baby." She said soberly.

He nodded slowly, and she bit her lip as she returned to the water that warmed her body.

"Jack, can I get a towel?" She asked when she was sufficiently warmed.

"Sure." He said as she turned off the water.

He slipped the towel into the shower behind the curtain.

"Thank you." She said, taking the towel from him.

She dried her hair and wiped off a little of her body before she wrapped the towel around herself. "I'm coming out."

She pulled the shower curtain, and he offered her a hand. She took it gratefully as she stepped out of the shower and onto the bath mat.

He stood in front of her with a sober expression on his face, and she bit the inside of her cheek somewhat nervously. "What are we going to do?" She asked, softly.

"We're going to figure that out." He said, seriously.

She gave him a grateful smile, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"C'mere." He said, wrapping his arms around her.

She hugged him tightly as he ran his fingers through her wet hair, murmuring encouraging words into her ear.

They stayed that way for a few moments before Jack let go. "All right," he said, gently guiding a strand of her drying hair behind her ear. "Get dressed, and we'll talk."

She nodded, vulnerably.

He kissed her forehead gently. "Hey, I love you."

"And I love you." She said seriously.

"Then we'll get through this." He said, honestly.

"Thank you, Jack." She said, sincerely.

"You're welcome." He said, giving her a faint smile before he closed the door.

She released the sigh which had been trapped in her chest before she quickly dressed and towel-dried her hair.

She walked out into the living room to where Jack was sitting at the fireplace. She touched his shoulder before she knelt on the floor next to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his shoulder affectionately. "Hey." She whispered, gently.

"Hey." He said, quietly.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked, gently.

He inhaled steadily before pulling away as a fire started roaring in the fireplace. "Nothing."

"Jack..." She pleaded.

"What?" He asked, looking over at her.

"We need to talk about this." She said, seriously.

He sighed. "I know. I just...I don't like to talk about it."

"By 'it', you mean Charlie?" She asked, gently.

"Yeah." He said, looking down at the floor.

"I know." She said, sympathetically. "And I also know this pregnancy is going to stir up a lot of memories for you. So, let's talk about them."

He inhaled as he sat on the couch. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

She got up from where she was sitting to join him. She slipped under his arm and rested her cheek on his chest.

"I wasn't there when I should have been." He said after a moment.

"I'm sure you were a good father." She said, sincerely.

"I was Special Ops, for cryin' out loud!" He exploded. "I was gone for three-quarters of Charlie's life. He shot himself with my gun! I was not a good father!"

"Jack," Sam soothed as she ran her hand over his chest. "It was an accident..."

"Yes, his death was an accident. But I still wasn't there as often as I should have been."

"You were providing for your family the way that you knew how. You were also protecting your country. That's your job." She said, gently rubbing his arm.

"All of the excuses in the world won't bring him back, Sam." He said, thickly.

She swallowed down her own tears. "No, it won't." She said, gently.

It was silent as she gently leaned her cheek on his shoulder and ran her fingers down his arm. "I wish I could make this better for you, Jack." She whispered.

He didn't answer.

Silence reigned for a few more minutes before she cleared her throat. "Jack?"

"Yeah?"'

"You may not be able to do anything to rewrite history, but you do have a second chance here."

"I know." He said, reaching a hand over to touch her knee. "Why do you think I'm thinking about all of this? I don't want to make the same mistakes that I made the first time."

"You don't have to, Jack." She said, earnestly. "First of all, you're not a Special Ops Colonel anymore. You're a three-star Air Force General."

"No, you're the one wearing the birds now." He teased lightly.

Sam's light mood faded for a moment.

"What?" He asked as his face fell.

"I'm giving it up." She said, seriously. "I was thinking today...thinking about everything I do. I don't want to raise a child like that - drop the kid off at daycare, take a jaunt across the galaxy, and come home for dinner."

"What do you want to do?" He asked, studying her closely.

"I want to retire or resign. Whichever they let me do."

"That's a decision you can't come back from."

"I don't think I ever want to." She said, honestly. "I was gone for fifty years, Jack. I mean, I don't remember it because we reversed time, but...that doesn't mean anything. I was gone for fifty years. I raised this baby on my own - at least, that's what I assume..." She closed her eyes as tears moistened them. "I rewound time like anyone would rewind a cassette tape, and I don't know...there's a part of me that regrets doing it even though I know this baby is still coming, and that I have everything to look forward to." She closed her eyes before looking down at her hands, now folded in her lap. "I still feel a sense of loss...as irrational as that sounds..."

"It's not irrational." He said, tightening his grip on her.

"I want to be a normal family, Jack. I want to do PTA, little league, all of that..."

He gave her a small half-smile. "Then, we'll do PTA, little league and...all of that."

She chuckled nervously as she looked down at her hands.

"Hey." He said, putting a finger under her chin, forcing her to look at him.

He saw the unshed tears in her eyes as she looked up.

"Why don't you put in for a transfer off SG-1, and I'll take my retirement?" He said, seriously. "They still need you, and they'll frown on both of us staying where we are. They can find another shrub to replace me."

"That's just it, Jack." She said, seriously. "They could choose someone who doesn't understand the Program like you do. I won't let that happen. I'll give up the Air Force. If they want me, they can make me a civilian consultant who doesn't go off-world - like Felger."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Hasn't anyone fired him yet?"

She rolled her eyes. "You know what I meant..."

"I know," he sighed. "But I'm not sure that they'll understand. I mean, just remember...when I was in your shoes, they never let me retired, and I was a smart-aleck."

She laughed.

"I mean, they promoted me to Lieutenant General..." He said with a grin as he realized that he'd just made her laugh despite the seriousness of their situation. He liked to make her laugh.

She giggled.

"If they wanted me this badly, they'll want to keep you forever. Even after you die."

She gave him a puzzled look.

"I'm just saying that with your luck you'll do that...ascension...thing like Daniel, and the Air Force will never give you a break."

She chuckled as he wrapped his arm around her. She laid the back of her head on his chest as his hand wrapped around and touched her stomach.

"How long are you here for?" He asked, looking down at her.

"Landry gave the team a week off. He said that we'd been on duty for fifty years, so we deserved some downtime. And since we just got back, I have about six days left in that week."

"You didn't pack a bag, did you?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that if you didn't see it, I don't have it." She looked up at him. "I'm really not sure how I got here or when I decided to come. It was an impulse. And you know how good I am at impulse..."

"I like your impulses." He said, kissing the top of her head.

She smiled appreciatively. "Yes, but I still don't have any clothes or toiletries."

"We can go shopping and get you some or you can use some of mine." He said, pragmatically.

"Tomorrow." She said, pulling his arms more tightly around her. "Tonight, I just want to lay in your arms and be grateful that I'm home."

"Sounds good to me." He said, seriously.


	3. Memories

_He walked into the back yard; Sara was probably planting something. She was always planting something. Not that he minded, he thought to himself. She was cute with a little dirt on her cheeks and on the tip of her nose._

_He couldn't help but smile faintly as he held the baseball glove in his hand. Charlie would be so surprised._

_"Charlie!" He called._

_Charlie raced out of the playhouse that they'd build together.  
_

_"Bang! You're dead!" Charlie announced, holding a squirt gun in his hands._

_His instincts flared up before he managed to remember that it wasn't an enemy soldier who'd pointed the weapon at him, but his ten-year-old son playing a game that he didn't understand.  
_

_"Where did you get that?" Jack demanded of his son._

_"My friend gave it to me. What's the big deal? It's just a toy." Charlie said, flippantly._

_"Give that to me." Jack said, taking the toy from his son. "Go to your room."_

_"I hate you." Charlie announced as he stormed up the stairs._

_Jack took a moment to breathe before heading up the stairs with a sigh when a gun shot startled him. "Charlie!" He cried, taking the stairs two at a time._

_His son lay deathly still in a pool of his own blood. "Charlie!" Jack called, hurrying to his son._

_Charlie's eyes opened, but it wasn't Charlie anymore. It was Apophis. "It's all your fault, O'Neill. It's all your fault."_

"Charlie!" He yelled, shooting up as his eyes flew open. He was breathing haggardly as a cool sweat drenched his body.

"Jack..." Sam said, sleepily, from where she sat beside him. "What's going on?"

"I'm okay..." He said, trying to calm himself as he had from his many nightmares over the years. "Sam, I'm fine. Go back to sleep."

"No." She said, waking herself fully. "You're not okay. Tell me about your nightmare."

"You need your rest." He said, firmly.

"You're not my commanding officer anymore." She sighed. "Tell me about your dream."

He looked over at her with a sigh.

"Jack, I know it's about Charlie. You've been calling him for a few minutes now." She touched his arm, supportively. "What is it?"

"It's just...just a dream..." He said after a moment. "It's...it's the nightmare I used to have just after he died."

She listened closely as she studied his eyes and rubbed his arm.

"Do you remember the Blood of Sokar stuff that Apophis made us drink on Netu?"

She shivered at the memory though she nodded in affirmation.

"I remembered one day two weeks before Charlie died." He said, soberly. "I came home from work; I'd bought him a new baseball glove and a ball. I thought we could play catch, but instead he ran out of his fort with a toy squirt gun, pointed it at me, and pulled the trigger."

She inhaled sharply as she grimaced at the thought of how such an act would make her feel.

"In reality, I had yelled at him and sent him to his room, but in the dream, I tried to make everything okay by offering to play catch with him."

"And?" She pushed gently.

"And Apophis saw right through it. He twisted Charlie into this...demon..."

Sam bit her lip. "It was the day my dad came to take me to my mother's funeral." She whispered softly.

He looked over at her as he put his arm around her.

"I didn't mean to make this about me." She said, softly. "I mean...I just meant I could relate."

"I know what you meant." He said tenderly as he brushed away a strand of her hair that had strayed from the others. "I love you."

She looked at him somewhat puzzled, and he sighed. "Sara...would try to make me feel better. Sometimes, I wondered how much she'd actually heard."

"Oh." She said after a moment.

"I'm just grateful to know that you do know." He said, seriously. "Doesn't happen often in our line of work."

She nodded soberly as she looked down at her flat stomach.

"What?" He asked, looking over at her.

"I wish..." She began.

"What?" He prodded, gently.

"I wish my parents were here." She choked after a moment.

He hugged her tightly as he comforted her. "Sh..." He whispered, stroking her hair as he held her.

For the first time since her father died, she sobbed for the parents she'd lost.


	4. Shindig

_A few days later:_

"But Sam!" Jack cried, following her around the apartment. "I have to go to this shindig tomorrow night!"

"I know." She said, calmly. "And I think you should go."

"I don't want to go without you."

She turned around. "Jack, if this was your neighbor's barbeque, I'd go. Honest, I would go. But it's a black-tie Pentagon dinner with the Secretary of Defense. If I were to go, it would look like I was your date, and I don't really think we want or need to open that can of worms."

"We'll skip the mingling and just go for the speech. No one will care if you're my date or if you're my...Stargate representative."

She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Sam. You know how much I HATE these things! I'd rather visit Netu."

She raised an eyebrow.

"But I have to go, so you should come with me."

"I'll order pizza, and I'll wait for you to eat it." She said, seriously.

"What's the point of having a girlfriend if I don't get to show her off?"

"Fiance." She said, showing him the chain that hung around her neck. "And...that's what you signed up for."

"Carter..." He whined.

"Fine." She finally agreed. "But I have NOTHING to wear."

"I'll get you something to wear." He grinned wickedly before he walked back into the kitchen.

"No little French maid outfit!" She called back. "Something APPROPRIATE!"

She sighed soundlessly as she shook her head. How could she have given in? He knew how much whining grated on her nerves. She closed her eyes. He had played mind tricks with her. "That's it. I'm not falling for it again..."

Somehow, she knew that was a promise that she would break.


	5. Expectations

By 2000 hours the following evening, Samantha Carter was dressed in a swanky, black evening gown, had gotten her hair styled at the salon, and been professionally made up. All at Jack's insistence.

"Wow, Carter, you look great." He gushed.

She inhaled and exhaled slowly. "I want to vomit." She announced.

He sat there for a moment, blinking in stunned surprise. "Wow...that really...killed the mood."

She chuckled tiredly. "I'm sorry. I just...I don't feel so hot right now."

"I'm sorry." He said, seriously. "Look, why don't you stay home? I'll..."

She raised a hand to stop him. "I'm not going to have done this all day just to have you tell me to stay home."

"I shouldn't have pushed you, Sam." Jack said, seriously. "You didn't want to go."

"Still, it was my decision to make, and I decided to go." She interrupted. "Now, I'll get my purse, and we'll be on our way."

"We'll just go for the speech." He called. "I'll tell them you weren't feeling well if they ask why I wasn't mingling and all that jazz."

"Jack," she said, walking over to where he stood. "I'm dressed to the hilt, and we're ready to leave when we needed to leave for the mingling part. We'll go to the whole thing. Besides, you need to. It's part of your job, right?"

"Well...yeah..." He admitted.

"Then we'll go, have a good time, and then we'll come home, and I'll crash. No worries." She kissed his cheek. "Now, let's go before they start wondering who kidnapped their Head of Homeworld Security."

He watched her leave, unable to contain his grin. Man, he loved that woman.

--

"Jack!" One of the generals called, waving to him.

Jack led Sam over to where a small group of Pentagon personnel stood. "Hi, Perry."

"We were taking bets on when you'd show up." They laughed. "We know how much you hate these things."

He chuckled, and Sam couldn't help but smile.

"Although, with a date who looks like that, I'd be late to one of these things and I'd leave early." One of the other men said, motioning to Sam.

She blushed. "Thank you."

"How on EARTH did you manage to convince her to come with you, Jack?"

Sam looked over at him with an amused smile.

Jack coughed. "With my...good looks, charm...and, uh...wit."

Sam laughed as the rest of the officers chuckled to themselves.

"Are you going to introduce us, Jack?"

"Oh, yeah..." He said, looking at them. "Uh, everyone, this is Samantha. Sam, this is everyone."

"Hi, everyone." She said with an amused smile.

"Hi, Samantha."

"Well, I believe I promised this young woman a drink." Jack said, leading her from their midst.

"Friends of yours?" She asked, looking over at him as she tried to hide a chuckle.

"The guy with the white buzz cut is Major General Perry Miller. The guy next to him was Colonel Bob Sampson."

"He's the one who said he would come late to these kinds of things if he had a date who looked like me..."

"Exactly." Jack agreed.

He missed Sam's smug look.

"The last one was Brigadier General Luke Reader."

"He couldn't believe that I'd come with you."

"I think you're getting a little too much pleasure from this whole thing, Colonel." He growled under his breath.

She tried to stifle a grin. "Yes, sir."

"Colonel Carter."

Sam straightened as the voice surprised her. "Yes?"

Major Paul Davis walked over to them, and she visibly relaxed. "Major Davis."

He grinned. "Nice to see you here, Colonel. Although...I wasn't expecting anyone from Cheyenne Mountain to be here."

"I had some leave, and decided to visit my dad's grave." She lied. "General O'Neill caught wind that I was here in his backyard and insisted that I escort him to this thing." She looked at Jack for a moment before looking back at Paul. "Apparently, he had trouble finding a date."

Major Davis struggled to keep from chuckling, and Sam turned a teasing grin to her fiance as if to say that two could play this game.

"That's enough, Carter." Jack said, shaking his head. "You're going to make Davis choke."

"Sorry, Major." Sam said, chagrined.

"No problem, ma'am." He finally managed after he finished laughing.

"Jack!" One of the Joint Chiefs, General Jensen, said, approaching them.

"Hello, sir." He said, shaking his hand.

"Colonel Carter." He said, turning his attention to Sam.

"Hello, sir."

"What are you doing in Washington, D.C.?"

"I got some leave, and came to visit my father's grave." She said, more seriously.

"I was sorry to hear about his passing. He was a good man who served his country well."

"Thank you, sir."

"Anyway, I caught wind of her plans, and insisted that she join me here." Jack finished.

"Good work, Jack." General Jensen said, looking back over at Jack. "You should get used to it, Carter. We have big plans for you."

Her eyes widened in surprise as the Secretary of Defense approached. "General O'Neill." He said, greeting Jack.

"Mr. Secretary." He greeted.

"It's nice to see you."

He looked over at Sam. "Colonel Carter? I wasn't expecting you here."

"She's in town on leave, and Jack had the good sense to bring her." General Jensen filled in.

"Ah. Great work, Jack. It's always great to see people from Deep Space Radar Telemetry at these events."

"Thank you, Mr. Secretary." Sam said, graciously.

"Now...maybe you can fill me in on a few things."

"Here, sir?" She asked, raising a skeptical eye.

"It's not what you think, Colonel." He laughed. "I just wanted to know if our favorite General O'Neill is seeing anyone."

Sam looked at Jack somewhat surprised. "Uh...probably, sir. He's...very charming."

Jack gave her a discreetly pointed look as the Secretary of Defense chuckled. "So I've heard."

He looked back at Sam. "We're just waiting for the time when he gets married again. We're getting tired of his excuses for why he doesn't entertain."

Sam stiffened as she managed a small smile. "Well, sir, I've attended a few functions coordinated by the General, and he seems to be perfectly capable of entertaining on his own."

General Jenson chuckled. "Yes, but you have to admit that a caterer can never truly replace a wife as a hostess."

"I suppose not." Sam managed with a cool smile.

Jack recognized the "just because I'm a woman" smile from his early days serving with her. "If you'll excuse me, I believe I promised the Colonel some punch."

"Of course. I believe it's nearly time to be seated for dinner anyway." The Secretary said, nodding. "It was nice to see you again, Colonel."

"And you." She said, managing a smile.

"Enjoy your stay." General Jensen said, shaking her hand.

"Thank you, sir."

"I should go." Major Davis said, motioning over his shoulder.

"It was nice to see you again, Major." She said with amore genuine smile.

"And you, Colonel."

Jack led her to the coat closet. "You okay?"

"Is that what they expect?" She demanded. "Someone to throw parties, cook, and clean for you?"

"Sam..."

"Is that what you expect?" She asked, seriously.

"Of course not!" He exclaimed.

"Then what do you expect?" She asked, looking at him expectantly.

"What do I..."

"What do you expect?" She said, evenly.

"I...Carter..."

"You think I'm just going to get married and get domesticated all in the same day?"

"Sam, that's not fair..."

"You're right." She said, grabbing her wrap.

"Good idea. Let's talk about this at my place."

"No." She said, looking over at him. "You stay and listen to your speech."

"Sam..."

"I'll stay overnight in a hotel tonight." She said, walking out of the room.

"Carter!" He called, following her. He caught up to her at the valet station. He handed them his ticket as a request for his car before he looked at her. "Sam, I'm not letting you do this to me again."

"What?" She asked, confused. "Do what to you again?"

"Force me into choosing my duty over you." He said, seriously. "I don't care about the speech, but I do care about you." He swallowed. "And...we obviously need to talk."

She bit the inside of her cheek before she nodded. "Yes. We do."


	6. Talking

He helped her into the car as it arrived, and hurried to the other side. He drove off, and the awkward silence that enveloped them made him sigh. "What's on your mind, Sam?" He asked, looking over at her.

"Nothing."

He raised an eyebrow. "If it wasn't nothing, you wouldn't have yelled at me in there. What is it?"

She was silent for a few moments, trying to collect her thoughts. Not knowing (and maybe not wanting to know) Jack's expectations for their upcoming marriage had been the trigger. What was the underlying problem?

She'd flirted with the line between friendship and love so many times that she hardly knew where the line was anymore. She'd been in countless numbers of relationships. She'd been engaged twice before now.

"I guess..." She finally managed.

"Guess what?" He asked, driving sedately through the streets of Washington, D.C.

With Jonas, she'd been afraid that he would try to control her. With Pete, she'd felt suffocated by his...

Expectations, she realized as she inhaled sharply. They weren't just the trigger; they were the problem.

"Sam..." Jack said, looking over at her.

"Marriage...scares me." She admitted. "The expectations...my other fiances and I have never really talked about them before."

"Ah." He said, nodding sagely.

"I mean, I loved them. At least...I thought I did..." She stammered.

He pulled into the parking lot of the apartment building and parked. He turned the engine off before turning to face her. "I don't expect you to become anything that you're not." He said, seriously. "If I wanted Martha Stewart, I would be engaged to Martha Stewart."

She studied him, and saw the sincerity in his eyes.

"On the entertainment page, since that was the catalyst for this conversation, I know that as a general, I'm expected to entertain. And most often, the burden of entertainment rests on the wife."

Sam opened her mouth to speak, and he placed his finger on her lips to keep her from saying anything.

"I know...it's a little 1950s housewife..." He said, seriously. "Like I said, I don't expect that."

She closed her mouth, and looked over at him.

"Sam, most women don't marry generals. They marry officers who become generals, and they learn the ropes with their husbands. They're also not officers themselves. You and I...we're the exception."

"Like we usually are." She chuckled.

"Exactly." He said, affectionately.

"Since we are both officers, so we're both going to have to do the Air Force wife thing." He teased.

She chuckled softly.

"Or...we could hire a caterer." He said, more seriously.

"That sounds good to me." She said with a smile.

"Sam," he said, gently. "You are a woman who balances being a soldier and a scientist. Still, you manage to be feminine and sexy."

She chuckled and he smiled affectionately.

"I'm proud to know you because you're a good person with a strong sense of right and wrong and excellent leadership skills. It is my privilege to love you." He said, earnestly. "But you're not the only one who's scared about marriage."

"I didn't even think about how you must feel." She admitted, sheepishly.

He shrugged. "Hey...I try not to let people in, and quite honestly, this whole touchy-feely thing is making me a little uncomfortable."

She laughed as she realized how true it was.

"Let's go inside. I promise to tell you about the days before I was assigned to the Stargate." He said, seriously.

"Jack, you don't have to do that." She said, seriously.

"Yes, Sam, I do. And if you want to tell me about Jonas and Pete and anyone else...I might be a little jealous, but...maybe you and I can avoid some of the mistakes from your past..."

"Well, as long as you don't start thinking you're God, I think we're miles ahead of Jonas and me." She said flippantly.

He chuckled. "Come on. Let's go upstairs."

"Good. I'm starving. And I have a craving for punch. You never did get me any of that. And you promised that a lot." She said, teasing him.


	7. Family

Jack walked out of the kitchen with two mugs in his hands. "No punch. Sorry."

"That's okay. I was just teasing." She said from where she sat on the couch.

"Still...I come bearing gifts." He said, sitting beside her. He offered her one of the mugs.

"It smells heavenly." She admitted as the scent of peppermint wafted to her. "Peppermint tea?"

He shrugged. "I got it from one of the ladies around here in a gift basket for Christmas last year..."

"And now it's June and you haven't used it."

"Exactly."

"Awfully warm outside for such a warm drink." She mused.

"Not warm. I put ice in it."

"Smart man." She chuckled as she took a sip of the clear liquid.

Jack was quiet as he took a sip of his own drink.

"You were serious about telling me about your days before the Program, weren't you?" She said after a moment.

"It's not exactly my comfort zone." He admitted.

"I know." She said, gently.

He looked over at her with a small smile. "Where do I start?" He asked himself thoughtfully.

"How about at the beginning?" She said, softly. "I know very little about your childhood."

He inhaled sharply. "Oh. Okay..."

"What?"

"Well...that's another thing I don't like talking about." He admitted.

She looked at him with soft eyes as she prepared to just listen.

"Okay. Well, I was born in Chicago, Illinois. October 20, 1952." He said, looking over at her. "Just...so you don't forget my birthday."

She laughed. "I've known you for how long?"

"Um..." He said, pretending to have forgotten.

She playfully hit his arm.

"Anyway...my dad was a firefighter; he died when I was six." He said more soberly. "Something happened in one of the houses he was working at. He managed to save everyone in the house, but on his way out, a beam collapsed on top of him."

"That's terrible. Your poor mother." She whispered.

"Yeah." He said, looking down at the ground. "She was pregnant with my younger sister when he died. Within six months, she had three kids - me, my brother, Sean, and my sister Marsha."

Sam tried to picture him as the eldest of three though it was difficult; she'd never seen him in any family situation other than the time they'd gone to protect his ex-wife from the energy life form who had impersonated him so early in their work at the Program.

"Where are they?" She asked, softly. "Your brother and sister?"

"Sean is in Iraq, and Marsha's living in Wisconsin or something..."

"You don't know?"

He sighed. "She stopped talking to me about the time I warned her that her boyfriend was up to no good."

She gave him a puzzled look.

"I'm getting ahead of myself." He said with a sigh. "When I was ten, my mom moved our family to Minnesota where we moved in with my grandfather. My grandmother had just died, and Grandpa needed someone to take care of him. He was a retired Air Force Major who had been in World War II." Jack's eyes took on a far away look as he thought about his grandfather. "He taught me how to fish."

"You must have admired him a lot."

"I did." He said, nodding. "Anyway, my mother never remarried. She became a secretary at a local dentist's office until she retired about seven years ago. She moved to Florida, and keeps insisting that we have a..."family reunion"." He said, using air quotations. "I keep telling her that's a bad idea."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Well, first of all, my mother wants me to get back together with Sara." He said with a sigh. "Secondly, Marsha and I aren't speaking because I was right about the loser I knew would take advantage of her." He looked at her. "Did I ever mention that our family is Irish and that stubborness is taken for granted there?"

She chuckled appreciatively.

He sighed. "Yeah. He got her pregnant and walked out on her. She still blames me for the whole thing."

Sam touched his arm supportively. "I'm sorry."

"Anyway, Sean and I still write occasionally. But unlike me, he enlisted in the Army. I didn't have a problem with it, but for some reason, he decided that the officer-enlisted man conflict we see so often needed to be expanded to our "happy" home." He sighed. "I want to see my mom again, and I want to get the family back together..."

"But you're afraid it would do more harm than good." She finished.

"Yeah."

"They're strong, you know." She said, speaking not only of his mother, but also of her father and his conflict with her brother, Mark.

He looked over at her. "Yeah. I know."

"Why don't you talk to Sean? See when his tour's up. When it's up, and assuming he can get ahold of Marsha, you should go visit your mother together."

"Not without you." He said, seriously.

"Okay." She agreed. "Assuming I'm not as big as a whale by then, I'll go with you."

He couldn't help but chuckle softly. "If you're as big as a whale, I'm not going." He said, kissing her nose.

She looked at him strangely.

He inhaled. "If there's something I have figured out with the...expanse of my added experience..."

She raised an eyebrow.

"I'll rephrase." He said with a small chuckle. "If there's one thing I've learned from being a hell of a lot older than you are..." She laughed before he sobered. "It's that I'm not going to make the same mistakes I've made before."

She studied his eyes which had become as determined as she'd ever seen him. "I will be there for you, and I will be there for our baby."

"I know you will." She said, earnestly.

"I will be as old as the other kids' grandparents, but I will be there."

She touched his cheek gently. "I know." She said, tenderly.


	8. Surprise

_Back in Colorado Springs two months later:_

Samantha Carter hated August. She despised it with every fiber of her being. She hated moving, and she hated commercial technology which couldn't seem to make a decent air conditioner. And she hated that since she was pregnant, she couldn't just fix the damn thing herself.

"Why'd you have to get central air, Jack? Why not just one of those stupid window units?" She yelled as she kicked the base of the air conditioner.

Her lease on her apartment had run out, and the landlord had been trying to up the price of the unit. "Someone else could use the space, Ms. Carter. I mean, you're hardly here..." He'd said with a smarmy smile.

Jack's place hadn't sold as quickly as hers had when they'd each left Colorado and the renters had recently moved to someplace in Kentucky, so he'd offered it to her as a place to crash. Now, she was moving into the house with only the help of professional movers because she had wanted to be "discreet".

She walked into the house, cursing her stupidity.

"Ma'am?" One of the movers asked, approaching her.

"Yes?"

"Uh...we're finished here unless you have anything else you need."

"No, I think it's great." She said with a tired smile. "Thank you."

"Hey, it was no problem." The foreman, Frank, said with a grin. "Call us if you need to be moved again."

"I hope I won't have to move for a LONG time." She chuckled.

He smiled as he and his crew packed up and left.

She sat in the armchair and looked around the living room. Boxes lined the walls. So much to do on her day off, she sighed.

Her eye caught a glimpse of the cell phone on the coffee table. Maybe she should call Daniel, Vala, Teal'c, and Cam. Maybe they could all go out for pizza as a team.

Her stomach growled. "Hm...pizza." She said, hungrily.

She leaned over and picked up the phone. She prepared to dial Daniel's number when a knock came to the door.

Saved by the bell! She thought with a grin. That must have been Daniel; Jack had probably called and told him that she was moving into the old house. "Coming!" She called as she hurried to the door.

She opened the door, and inhaled sharply as she saw a tan, athletic-looking woman on the stoop dressed in shorts and a tank top. Her short golden hair which had begun to gray made Sam freeze in the doorway for a moment. Jack's ex-wife was standing on the step.

Sara looked at her for a moment before she inhaled herself. "I'm looking for Jack O'Neill; is he here?"

Sam bit her lip. "Uh..."

"I might have the wrong house."

"No, uh..." Sam said, regaining her composure. "I mean...yes...technically, but..." She closed her eyes with an internal sigh. She was going to regret this. "Come in."

"No, it's okay..."

"Jack's not here right now; he's actually in Washington D.C." Sam interrupted.

"Oh." Sara said as she bit her lip. "I never thought..."

"It's okay." Sam said, gently. "He's working at the Pentagon now. He's a Major General."

Sara raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah." Sam said, nodding.

Sara studied her for a moment. "You're the woman who was on his team..."

Sam looked down at the ground before nodding. "Yes."

"Captain...Carter?"

"Actually, it's Colonel now." She said somewhat embarrassed.

"Oh. Congratulations."

"Thank you." Sam said, suddenly very aware that her "baby bump", as the magazines termed it, had just begun to show, and that she was wearing a rather tight shirt that accentuated it.

"Like I said, come in, and I'll, uh, get Jack's address and phone number for you."

"Thank you." Sara said, stepping inside. She saw the boxes lining the walls. "Moving?"

"What?" Sam asked, confused. "Oh...actually, I'm just moving in."

Sara raised an eyebrow.

"Uh...my apartment lease was up, Jack's place was available, and rather than go through the hassle of finding the best place, he offered to let me rent this place from him."

"He's good like that." Sara said, nodding as she bit her lip. "This place is just so...."

"Jack?" Sam asked with a small smile as she got the piece of paper and pen.

"Yeah."

"Well, he hated to give it up." She said, seriously. "But there's little practicality of having a house in Colorado when your job is in DC."

Sara nodded. "I suppose that's true."

"What did you want to talk to him about?" Sam asked, after a moment. "I mean, I could pass a message onto him."

"It's...personal." Sara said with a sigh.

Sam looked at Sara for a moment before handing her the piece of paper.

Sara looked down at the paper before she looked back up at Sam. "I need to tell him something."


	9. Come Home

_Three hours later:_

Jack walked up to the apartment building, exhausted. Meetings with the Joint Chiefs, President, Secretary of Defense, and Senate Appropriations committee were too much for him to handle in one day.

His cell phone buzzed, and he looked at the screen. Sam, it read. He smiled softly as he flipped the phone open. "Hey, Sam."

"Jack, I need you to come to Colorado this weekend." She began without preamble.

"Hello to you too." He said after a moment.

"Jack, it's important." She said, ignoring his sarcasm.

"And this is important." He continued. "Hello, Sam."

"Hi, Jack." She said with a sigh. "Now...can you come to Colorado this weekend?"

"What's the problem? I haven't heard about any galactic emergency..."

"It's neither galactic nor an emergency."

"You missed me..." He grinned.

"Jack..." She sighed.

"What?" He asked, seriously. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Sara stopped by the house today."

He froze as the elevator doors closed. "What?"

"Sara came by the house today. She said she needed to talk to you."

"About what?"

"I promised that I wouldn't say anything." She said, biting the inside of her cheek. "But it's important."

"I'm not sure I like the fact that you and my ex-wife are keeping secrets from me."

"Jack. I'm serious. You need to come to Colorado; you need to talk to Sara."

"Who are you, and what have you done with my fiance?" He said, seriously.

"That's not funny."

"Sam, you're the one who tries to pretend not to get jealous every time I meet a pretty girl off-world. Do you remember Kynthia, Laira..."

Sam swallowed down the frustration. He knew just where to push her buttons. "Jack, she's your ex-wife. It's different."

"How?"

She felt emotion bubble up in her as it was a volcano that needed to erupt. "Jack, she has cancer."

He froze as he entered his apartment. "I'll be there as soon as I can."


	10. Helpless

Sam sat in the den with her laptop, waiting for Jack to show up. When he announced he'd be there as soon as he could, he usually meant that he was taking the next flight out regardless of what it meant for his career. She wished he'd just told her when he'd be there; she would have picked him up from the Denver airport.

The lights that slowly crossed into the driveway made her heart race as she stood. There he was. The door opened a few moments later, and she stood there by the door to see him immediately upon his arrival.

"What else do you know?" He asked, seriously.

"Only that she says she doesn't have much time left." She said, softly. "And that she wanted to give you a chance to look at the things in Charlie's room. Give you first dibs on what you want."

He looked at her incredulously and she raised her hands helplessly. "Those were her words, not mine."

He sighed. "Sorry. I know..."

"Jack, just...go to lunch and talk to her. It looks like she could use someone in her court."

Jack looked down for a moment. "I can't do it by myself." He admitted.

"I'll go with you if you want."

"Can you get the time off?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"If it's for lunch? Yes." She said, nodding. "I'm not going offworld anymore."

He nodded slowly. "I think I'm going to call Hank in the morning."

"Why?" She asked, curiously.

"Well...someone's got to be able to do something, right?"

"Jack..." Sam said, suddenly suspicious. "What are you talking about?"

"The Tok'ra don't have any technology that they're hiding from us? Maybe the Jaffa? Maybe other people?"

"We're not ruining diplomatic ties with everyone just so that your ex-wife won't die." She said, seriously. "I'm not trying to be calloused, but you know it's true."

He sighed. "Someone's got to be able to do something."

"And they are, Jack. She's got a great team of doctors. She's just trying to prepare for the worst."

"And maybe I can give her some other options."

"Jack..."

"Look, maybe our blood has some sort of key in it. Have you gotten so much as a cold since you were Jolinar's host?"

Sam inhaled sharply at the mention of one of her darkest memories.

"I'm just saying...since I blended with Kanan, I've been shot at and injured, but I never get sick. And after the whole Ancient thing..."

"Jack, you want to fix this. I get that." She said, seriously. "But Sara doesn't want you to fix it. She wants you to know because you were a big part of her life."

He inhaled sharply.

"I know you've seen a lot of death, and you've seen a whole lot of miracles." She said, seriously. "But I think...you need to let Sara go in peace. When you see her, you'll know what I'm talking about. She's made peace with it."

He swallowed down his emotions.

"Jack..." She whispered as she walked over to him. Without a word, she wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly as the tears welled up in his eyes.

He'd never been one to cry, and the fact that he was allowing her to help him through this told her that they had a bond that had was stronger than that of teammates or lovers. It also told her that Jack had grown over time; Sara had told her about how difficult it had been to get him to open up after Charlie's death.

Sam suspected it had been more than that. In all the years that she'd known him, he'd never been one to unburden himself of his problems. Most of his career had been spent on classified missions of which he still couldn't speak, and he couldn't unburden himself of his problems.

Maybe it was the fact that she'd been a part of more than a few of those missions that had helped him to open up. If he didn't need to talk about the missions, maybe he could talk about the personal things.

She sighed internally. Once in a while, she would remember what he had said when she'd seen an old family picture on the wall near where she was standing.

_"Do you talk to her?" She had asked, curiously as she motioned to the picture of Jack, Sara and Charlie._

_"Can we not talk about that?" He asked, uncomfortably._

It had only been three years, but so much had changed since then. Now, he had to speak with her and let Sam past his stalwart defenses.

He pulled away, the embrace feeling as though it had lasted an eternity.

"What do you want to do?" She asked, gently. "We can call Daniel and the team and see if they're available to come over."

He shook his head.

"Have you eaten?"

Again, he shook his head.

"What do you want to eat? I ordered pizza earlier. It's cold, but..."

"That's fine." He said, hollowly.

She led him up to the kitchen where she reached into the fridge. She pulled out the veggie lover's pizza, and put a couple slices on a plate before she put it in front of him.

He raised an eyebrow as he looked at it. "Veggie pizza?"

She chuckled. "Yes. I'm not just eating for myself, you know."

He shrugged before nodding. He took a bite of the pizza.

"Sara told me a little about what your life together was like." Sam admitted.

"Did she?" Jack asked, looking over at her.

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Looks like you two became good friends." He said with a sigh as he took another bite.

"She needed to talk to someone, Jack." She said, softly. "She needed someone to listen."

"Yeah, I know." He said, seriously. "And I'm glad that you got a chance to talk to her. It'll give you a different perspective on Jack O'Neill."

"Not really." She admitted. "I know a few extra details, but no, I have no different perspective." She sighed as she looked at her hands which were folded on the table. "Jack, I...I wish you would tell me about that time. You clammed up after we talked about your childhood. I need to know about Sara. I need to know about Charlie."

He nodded after a long moment. "Yeah, you do."

She touched his hand. "It's okay if you need more time, but we need to talk about this."

He bit the inside of his cheek. "I hate talking..."

"I know." She said, running her fingers over the hair at his temple.

"Well, let's see..." He said after a moment. "Sara and I got married two weeks after I graduated from the Academy. She was a senior at Denver U, majoring in horticulture."

"She mentioned she was an avid gardener."

He nodded. "The best I've ever seen."

"So...you got married." She prodded, gently.

"Yeah." He said, nodding. "She finished her degree while I went off on my first set of black ops missions. When I got back, the Gulf war had started. I had two weeks with her, and then I was off again. Somewhere in there, she got pregnant. She wrote me a letter a few months later when she found out." He let out his breath in a drawn out exhale. "I got back two months before she gave birth...and had to leave again only a few days later."

Sam wrapped her fingers around his, squeezing them supportively.

"I didn't see Charlie for the first time until he was almost six months old." He said with a sigh. "But I kept doing my duty. I moved up the ranks, but Sara was raising Charlie on her own, and I couldn't talk about the stuff I was doing. I think our marital problems started a while before Charlie died."

Sara had intimated as much, Sam thought to herself.

"I mean, we were happy...we didn't know marriage could be anything other than what it was for us." He shook his head. "But...there were just...things we knew we had to avoid talking about or we'd end up in these catastrophic fights...anyway, Charlie grew up, I made Colonel, and then, he shot himself with my personal firearm. The rest is history."

"I don't think so, Jack." Sam said, gently as she looked at the table. "Daniel says there's more..."

He swallowed as he winced slightly. "Those days were dark, Sam..."

"He said Abydos was a suicide mission." She continued.

He was silent for a moment before he nodded. "My mission was to neutralize any threat to Earth's survival - namely the world on the other side of the Stargate. It hadn't occurred to General West that the device could be used to contact more than one world."

"Let's face it, Jack. He wasn't much of a visionary." Sam admitted.

He managed an appreciative chuckle. West was far from the paternal mentor that Hammond had been.

"What about after Abydos? I mean, I know the general story about what happened when we went back through in '97, but I mean...before then..."

"Well, let's see...I bought this house, I bought a telescope...I went fishing a lot..."

"I didn't mean about your retirement, Jack. I meant your divorce."

He sighed. "When I got back, Sara made it clear that she couldn't handle us anymore. I moved out, and within a few months, we were legally divorced, and I'd moved into this house." He sighed. "I think it was the mission that finally ended it, ironically. I came back more like myself, but she couldn't do the officer's wife thing anymore."

"It makes sense," Sam admitted. "She probably couldn't bear the thought that anything should happen to you; Charlie's death probably made that fear much more pronounced."

He nodded, numbly. "Ironic, don't you think?"

She sighed silently.

"What exactly...did you tell her about...us?" Jack asked after a moment.

"Well, she found me unpacking here. I didn't say anything, but I don't think I had to."

He nodded, knowingly. "Okay..."

"Just breathe." She said, seriously.

"Is that an order, Colonel?" His tone was bitingly sarcastic.

"Doctor's orders." She returned, more bitterly than she had in Antarctica.

He didn't answer.

She sighed. "I'm going to bed. Let me know if you need anything..."

He was silent as she walked out of the kitchen. He was so infuriating. Where was it written that they were eternally required to take two steps forward and one step back?

She walked toward the master bedroom, but paused. She needed some space from him. Especially if he was in a mood like he seemed to be. She walked over to the bed, and took both pillows. She'd sleep in the guest room. In a swift motion, she had turned back to the door. Suddenly, she felt the familiar swirl of dizziness. Oh crap, she thought as she blacked out.


	11. Care

Consciousness came slowly to Samantha Carter. First, there were arms around her, cradling her closely. Something was touching her face; a voice was pleading with her.

"Jack..." She whispered, slowly.

"I'm here." She heard a baritone voice whisper as a soft caress gently brushed a tendril of hair from her face.

Her eyelids felt so heavy, but she managed to get them open. "Jack..." She whispered again.

He looked at her, concerned. "Hey, Carter. You had me scared there for a minute."

"Sorry." She managed, tiredly. She hated passing out.

"What happened?"

"Must have turned too fast...got dizzy and then..."

"You passed out."

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Take it easy, okay?" He said, softly.

"I'll try." She agreed, realizing how vulnerable he looked.

"Maybe we should take you in to get checked out." He fretted.

"I'm fine, Jack." She said, seriously. She sat up. "Just...tired and dizzy."

"Okay." He said, quietly.

"I'm ready for bed, Jack. How about you?"

"Me too." He admitted. "It's been a long day.

"Then let's go to bed." She said with a small, though supportive, smile.


	12. Sara

_Three days later:_

Sam walked down the halls of the SGC, a small box in her hands.

"Sam! Let me get that!" Daniel cried, seeing the box in her hands.

She chuckled softly. "Not you too..."

"What do you mean?" He asked, quizzically.

He took possession of the box in her hands, and she shook her head. "I've been moving into General O'Neill's old place. He came to visit this weekend, and I have not been allowed to even look at a box the wrong way."

Daniel chuckled. "Things are going well then?"

She inhaled sharply. "Uh...yeah...sure..."

"What's wrong?" He asked, perceptively.

She almost wanted to laugh at the innocence of his question. "What isn't wrong, Daniel..."

They reached her lab, and he looked at her curiously. "What are you talking about?"

"Jack...doesn't talk."

"I know that." He said, seriously. "And...you know that too."

"Yes, I have known that. I don't even need a whole lot of the touchy-feely stuff, but if we're going to have a life together...he needs to talk. Not necessarily for me..."

"But he needs to start over with a clean slate." Daniel said, perceptively.

"Exactly."

"And you're having trouble with that?"

"Well, it didn't help that Sara stopped by the other day. The real reason Jack's in town."

"To meet Sara?"

"At my request." Sam sighed.

"Excuse me?"

"She stopped by the house trying to find him. I don't know how or where she got the address, but she was looking for Jack."

"I think he gave it to her when we did that whole...energy crystal thing..."

"That's what I figured." She said, honestly.

"What did she need? Or do you know?"

"Oh, I know." Sam said earnestly as she sat down. "And I think that's part of the problem."

Daniel followed suit. "How could it be part of the problem?"

"She told me before she told Jack, and he doesn't want to hear it."

"She's getting remarried?"

Sam shook her head. "She's got cancer."

"No wonder Jack doesn't want to hear it." He said, seriously.

"I know..." Sam said, looking at her stomach as she smoothed her blouse over it. "We're all having lunch in about an hour."

"Does she know about..."

"Yes." Sam sighed. "She does."

"Oh boy."

"It wasn't that bad when it was just her and me. Jack's the wild card in all of this..."

"What's going on?" Vala asked, bounding into the room with an enviable amount of energy in Sam's opinion.

"Nothing you need to know about." Daniel said, seriously.

"That really hurts, Daniel." Vala said, indignantly.

"Jack, his ex-wife, and I are going to lunch." Sam answered.

"Awkward." She supplied instantly. "I remember a time on..."

"Yes, Vala, it's awkward." Daniel interrupted. "Which is why we're leaving Sam alone to work with her...doohickeys."

Sam bit back a chuckle as Daniel stopped. "Did I just..."

"Yes, Daniel, you did." She said, unable to contain her laughter anymore.

"D'oh." He groaned as he pushed Vala out the door.

Sam laughed softly. Jack had left an indelible mark on the team; that much was certain.

She sighed as she thought about Jack. She just wished that he would let her into his world; she wished that he would be able to relax and fish, like he usually wanted to. A lightbulb went off in Sam's thoughts. Maybe that's what she would organize...

--

"The reservation is under O'Neill." Jack announced as the maitre d' looked up at him.

"Mrs. O'Neill is already at the table." She said with a small smile as she reached for two additional menus.

Jack inhaled sharply, and Sam squeezed his hand supportively.

They approached the table, and Sam felt him let go of her hand. She sighed internally. She understood how awkward this must be for Jack, but still, she knew he needed her. That's why she was here, wasn't it?

"Jack." Sara said, standing as they approached the table. "Sam."

"Hi, Sara." Sam said, warmly. "How are you?"

"Fine." She said with a tired smile. "And you?"

"A little tired, but fine."

"Good." Sara looked back at her ex-husband. "Hi, Jack."

"Hi, Sara."

"Have a seat." She said, sitting back down.

"Thanks." Sam said, graciously.

"How have you been, Jack?" Sara asked as he sat across from her. "Sam tells me that you're a Major General now."

"Yeah..." He said, nodding.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, looking at him curiously.

"Sam...told me some things about you too..." He said, seriously.

"I didn't think she could keep them from you for too long." Sara said with a sigh. "What do you want to know?"

"First of all, are you sure?"

"Trust me, Jack. I'm sure." She said, softly. "If there's one thing about chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, it's that by the end, you know you have cancer."

He sighed. "I wish you'd told me earlier; I could have done something to help."

Sam tried not to internally panic when she realized she had no idea what he was going to do.

Sara shook her head. "I doubt it, Jack. It's ovarian cancer."

He looked at her curiously.

"Apparently the cysts which gave me trouble when we wanted to have another baby after Charlie were just a precursor to the "real" thing."

"I'm sorry to hear that." He said, seriously.

She shrugged as she sipped at her water. "It's life."

"You're pretty philosophical about this."

"Jack, I don't have anyone left in my life. It's almost a blessing actually."

"I'm not sure that even you believe that."

She sighed. "Jack, my dad died three years ago of a stroke, I never remarried, you're involved with another woman, and Charlie..." She swallowed. "Charlie's been gone for a long time. Maybe it's just time..."

"If you think like that, you're never going to get better."

"I have stage 4 ovarian cancer, Jack. People don't just get better from that. The fact that I'm still doing outpatient treatments is pretty miraculous." She looked at him for a moment. "Sorry. I forgot...you don't like that word."

"Things...change..." He said, shifting uncomfortably.

"Gone back to Mass?" She asked, curiously.

"Uh...no..."

"Well, that doesn't surprise me." She said, seriously.

"Look, Sara, I've seen a...lot of things...in my life that I couldn't exactly...explain..."

Sam realized how true this was; it was her job to explain things.

"Maybe you're not as hopeless as you think." She said after a moment.

He opened his mouth before shrugging.

"I have a few things I thought you might want. I can have someone drop them off, or you can come and get them...."

"Whichever is easiest for you." He said, easily.

"I want you to be comfortable, and I know you're not comfortable here. Maybe I should just get Patty to mail them to your place in DC."

"You could drop them by the house too..." Sam offered.

"Are you sure?" Sara asked, looking at Jack for the answer.

"Yeah. We'd like to help you if we can." Jack said after a moment.

"Okay." She said with a sigh. "I'll call you."

"Sounds good."

"Now, if my memory serves correctly to what it felt like to be in your shoes..." Sara said with a small smile as she looked at Sam. "You're probably more than a little hungry."

Sam chuckled softly as she blushed lightly. "Yeah..."

"Then I think we should order." Sara said with a warm smile.

--

Nearly an hour later, after they'd finished their meals and Sam left to go to the restroom, Sara looked at Jack. "She's a good woman, Jack. A bit younger than you, but..."

He shrugged.

"Are you happy, Jack?"

"Uh...yeah..." He said, quietly.

"Good." She said, seriously. "You deserve it."

"Not after Charlie...not after you..."

"Jack, you're a good man. Whatever happened wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was." He said, seriously.

"If you're going to make this work, you need to forgive yourself." She said, earnestly. "Sam loves you, but I know from experience how hard it is to feel like you're the only one in a relationship."

He inhaled sharply.

"Don't let her get away from you, Jack." She said, gently. "She's a special one."

He looked back at the women's restroom, and nodded. "Yeah...she is."

Sara managed a sad smile. "Good-bye, Jack." She said, softly.

"So soon?"

"I need to go." She said, seriously as she stood.

He stood, and embraced her. "Keep in touch." He whispered.

She returned the embrace, closing her eyes as she remembered the old days. "I'll try."

She pulled away as she gave him another faint smile. "Good luck with Sam and the baby."

"Thanks." He said, gratefully.

She left as Sam returned to the table. "She's gone?"

"She said she had to go."

"Oh."

"Let's go." He said after a moment.

"Okay." She said, amicably.

They walked out to the car as Sam's cell phone rang. She reached into her small purse and retrieved the device. "Carter."

"Hey, sis."

"Mark!" She cried, looking at Jack in surprise.

Jack looked over at her with equal surprise as he shrugged and opened the door for her. She slid in quickly. "How are you?"

"I'm great. How's life?"

"So far so good." She said, earnestly as she gave Jack a smile. "I told you I'm pregnant, right?"

"Yeah...I mean...not you, but..."

"That's right, I told Leah."

"Exactly, and what Leah knows, Leah tells me." He laughed.

She chuckled. "What can I help you with?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to check in with you."

"Well, Jack and I are pretty good."

"Jack?" He asked, surprised. "As in..."

Sam sighed. "As in what?" She asked after a moment.

"Uh...nothing..." He quickly corrected.

"How are you and Leah? How are Katie and Logan?"

"They're great. Growing like weeds." He said with a chuckle. "That's something you'll learn when you have your own kid. You can't get them to stop growing."

She laughed. "They're hardly kids anymore, Mark..."

He sighed. "It's true. Logan's a junior in college, and Katie's off to UCLA in the fall."

"Really?" Sam asked instantly. "She told me she'd call when she got the news!"

"She doesn't know yet. I, uh...well, you see...the letter kind of...fell..."

Sam laughed. "As sneaky as ever." She laughed. "Do you remember how we tried to play hide-and-seek with Mom when we were like...five...and she called the police!"

Jack looked over at her in absolute surprise. There were so many things he didn't know about her.

"Yeah." Mark laughed.

They lapsed into silence for a moment before he inhaled. "You're going to be a great mom, Sam."

"Thanks, Mark." She said, appreciatively. "That means a lot."

"Call me when you find out if it's a boy or a girl. Leah's going to kill me if she knows you know and haven't told either of us."

Sam chuckled. "Yes, sir."

"And...bring that man of yours to come visit. I need to give him the third-degree."

"I think Dad's done it often enough." Sam said, looking over at Jack somewhat amused.

"Well, we'd still like to meet him."

"Okay. I'll see if he's got some time." She agreed.

"Bye, Sammie."

"Bye, Mark." She said with a smile as she closed the cell phone.

"Police called to hide-and-seek?"

She laughed. "We were five! We didn't know you had to TELL your mother you were playing hide-and-seek with her."

He couldn't help but laugh.

"Mark's wondering when we can come for a visit." She looked over at him with a teasing smile on her lips. "He wants to rake you over the coals."

Jack shook his head. "I'm an Air Force general, Sam. I'm not intimidated."

She laughed. "I don't think he expects you to be. Besides, I have a feeling that my dad grilled you plenty over the years."

He nodded. "Uh...yeah...you have no idea."

"What?" She asked, after a moment.

"Well, there was the time that he found out what happened when you drank that thing and took off all your..."

"JACK!"

"I'm just...saying..."

"You told my dad about that?"

"Not me." He said, soberly. "Daniel."

She raised an eyebrow.

"To be fair, your dad had given him a beer..."

Sam tried not to laugh. One beer and Daniel didn't remember what had happened the next day.

"But your dad quickly found me and gave me the biggest dressing-down that I've ever had."

Sam glared at him as they pulled into the driveway.

"No pun intended, I swear." He said, raising his hands in defense upon turning the motor off.


	13. Impatient

_Two days later:_

Sam looked at her profile in the mirror, biting the inside of her cheek. She tugged gently on the material of her blouse, but it only accentuated her bump. There was no mistaking it; everyone at work who didn't already know, would know that she was pregnant.

"Something wrong?" Jack asked, coming up behind her as he wrapped his arms around her, dropping a hand to her belly as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Besides the fact that everyone is going to know we're having a baby because I'm so big?" She asked, looking over at him as she leaned back on him a little. "Nope."

"You're not big." He said with a small smile. "You're cute."

"Cute?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "You've got to be kidding me..."

"Nope. You're adorable."

"My life's ambition." She retorted sarcastically.

He chuckled as he pulled away. She turned around. "I thought you were leaving this morning..."

"Yeah..." He said with a sigh. "So did I, but then I got a call from Lisa."

"Lisa..." She prodded.

"Sean's wife."

"You never mentioned he was married."

"Yeah. Two kids, Mike and Steve, who have teenagers of their own."

"Ah." She said, nodding.

"Anyway, Sean's supposed to be home next week. Apparently, he's put in for retirement after this tour. Marsha's living back in Minnesota so that she can be close to her daughter, Marie, who's married and has three kids. Mom's going up to visit them since Sean and Lisa live right there in Minnesota too. The only ones not there, in fact, are you and me."

"Are you saying that you want to go to Minnesota?"

"Yes." He sighed. "I think I do. Although, I'll be the oldest "kid" there, and have the youngest "kid"...when he or she decides to show his or her face."

She chuckled.

"My brother and sister are grandparents, Sam...I'm getting ready to have my second kid."

"Jack," she whispered, placing a finger on his lips to silence him. "It's okay."

He sighed. "Yeah...I guess that's true..."

"I already made arrangements to go up to Minnesota." She said after a moment.

"What?"

"I thought you could use the time to go fishing." She said, affectionately. "You've had a rough week; I wanted to help you relax."

"Yeah, I guess..."

"We leave Friday from Denver or we can try to exchange your ticket for one that leaves from DC."

"Denver will be fine." He said, seriously.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. "I'll just have to convince the Pentagon that the IOA that the SGC needs some supervision."

"That won't be hard." She muttered under her breath.

"I know." He chuckled.

A moment passed before Sam remembered something. "Jack..."

"Yeah."

"I have a doctor's appointment coming up. Do you want to come?"

"Are you sure that wouldn't be...too obvious?"

"Jack, this time it's the sonogram. I figured you'd want to be there."

"You're finding out whether or not it's a boy or girl?" He asked, somewhat surprised.

"It is common practice these days, Jack." She laughed.

"I'm sorry, I just...I didn't realize we were..."

"That far along?" She asked with a tiny smile.

"Yeah..."

"We are." She said, nodding.

"Wow."

"Do you want to come?"

"Sure." He said, nodding.

"Great. The SGC outsources their obstetrics to the Air Force Academy hospital. My appointment is at 11."

"Today?" He asked, surprised.

"No. Tomorrow."

"Oh."

"What?" She asked, looking over at him.

"Well, maybe we could get a result earlier..."

"How?"

"Um...ask Teal'c?"

"Never going to happen." Sam laughed. "He won't even tell Daniel what his older self had learned from the Asgard database...and the database hasn't changed."

"It's worth a shot, right?" Jack asked with a grin.

Sam laughed as she shook her head. "Something tells me that you're coming to work with me today..."

"Oh yeah..." He grinned.

--

Daniel walked into Sam's lab, engrossed in a book. "Hey, Sam...are you working on the device that SG-15 brought back from 640?"

"She's not here, Danny." Jack said from behind her workbench.

He looked up. "Jack."

"Daniel."

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to see Teal'c actually."

"Teal'c? He's off-world with SG-4; apparently, they're dealing with Jaffa Trade Negotiations."

"I heard." Jack said, nodding seriously.

Daniel sighed. "Sam told me about Sara. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Danny. We had lunch with her a couple of days ago, we caught up over old times, and we're back in our own corners of the world."

"You've got to have something you want to say about it..."

"Daniel, I'm fine." He said, seriously.

"Okay...but if you want to talk..."

Jack nodded. "Well...how's that Asgard Database thing going?"

"Oh. That." Daniel said with a sigh. "It's taking forever."

Jack chuckled. "And I thought you had the patience of Job."

Daniel scoffed at the idea. "Are you kidding me? I probably spent fifty years night and day in that room, and still didn't get through the whole thing."

"Yeah. Those Asgard have a LOT more history than we do."

"You're telling me..."

Sam walked in. "Daniel." She grinned.

"Sam!" He greeted warmly. "I see you brought something for show-and-tell."

She laughed. "He's like a lost puppy. He's always following me everywhere."

Jack looked at her somewhat incensed by the comparison as Daniel laughed loudly.

Vala bounced in. "There you are, Daniel!"

He sighed. "Hi, Vala."

She looked over at the general who sat behind Sam's desk with his legs propped up on the workbench. "Hello, General."

"Hi, Vala." He said, waving his hand.

"Hi, Vala." Sam said with a grin.

"Hello, Samantha." Vala said, returning the grin. "How are you doing?"

"So far, so good." Sam said with a small smile.

"Wonderful."

"Hey, have either of you had any luck getting any info out of Teal'c since you guys got back from the _Odyssey_."

"I've only heard that "life's too short"." Vala said, seriously.

Daniel looked at her strangely as if there was a memory tugging at his mind.

"What?" She asked, looking at him curiously.

"Nothing, I just...nothing."

"You keep looking at me strangely when I say that."

"Sorry." He said, dismissively. "I've only heard a handful of cliches that Teal'c says came from the Asgard Database...I think he's just pulling my leg."

"Which cliches?" Sam asked, curiously.

"Ack! Sam!" Jack protested.

"What? It can't hurt to know." Sam said, looking over at her fiance.

"A...penny saved is a penny earned..." Daniel began.

"La la la la!" Jack cried, his hands over his ears.

Sam rolled her eyes. "You're such a baby..."

"Well...I know I ended up with someone. I just can't figure out who! I'm still sure that you and Teal'c..."

Sam grimaced as she shuddered internally. "I think he was just trying to be supportive of the fact that I was pregnant even though I didn't know it at the time."

"I'm not so sure..." Vala said in a sing-song voice.

"Wait...you and...T..." Jack asked, looking at Sam with a look of disgust.

"I know!" She cried. "I mean, I love him like a brother, but...ew."

"Maybe you ended up with Teal'c, Vala." Daniel said, looking over at her with a smug smile.

"Well, he is rather handsome, muscular, and quiet...all of the things I like in a man."

Daniel rolled his eyes.

Sam and Jack exchanged knowing glances.

"What?" Daniel and Vala asked in tandum as they looked at the couple.

"Nothing." Sam said with a chuckle.

"Yeah. I'm with her." Jack said, innocently.

"Why didn't you tell me that the band was having a meeting?" Cam asked, walking into Sam's lab.

"Because it was a little...impromptu." Sam said with a small smile.

"General O'Neill, sir." Cam said, looking over at the general. "I didn't know you were here."

"That was also...impromptu." He said, looking at Sam for a moment before looking back at Cam.

"Oh...right..." Cam said, nodding. "How long are you in town?"

"Until I go to Minnesota on Friday."

"Minnesota?" Vala asked, curiously. "I remember that place. That's where you have a cabin..."

"It was an interesting experience, sir." Cam admitted.

"Yeah, I know...that...bear thing..."

"Not exactly." Sam said, looking at him strangely. "Didn't you read my report?"

"Uh..." Jack began as he coughed. "So...Mitchell...what's next on the docket?"

"Docket, sir?"

"200th trip through the Gate...second star blown up...what's the big occasion this week?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "We've only blown up one star."

"Yes." Jack said, looking at her pointedly. "And yet, you don't think it's strange that you can say that."

She shook her head with a laugh.

"No occasion, sir." Cam reported seriously.

"Oh. Darn. Maybe I shouldn't have had that pie after all." He said, patting his stomach.

"Better than a big lunch before your first trip through the Gate..." Sam said with a grin as she referenced their first trip together.

He chuckled appreciatively.

"Did I miss something?" Vala asked, looking over at Daniel.

"Inside joke. I wasn't even there for that one..."

"Sorry." Sam said, looking at the others in the room with a light blush.

"Uh huh..." Mitchell said, unconvinced.

"When's Teal'c coming back?" Sam asked, curiously.

"SG-4 just got back. He'll probably be this way after debriefing."

"Excellent." Jack said with a grin as he stood. "I'll be back."

Sam laughed as she watched him walk out.

"What was that about?"

"I have a sonogram tomorrow to find out if it's a boy or a girl. Jack thinks that he can break Teal'c and find out today."

Vala almost choked with laughter at the absurdity.

"I know." Sam laughed.

--

Jack returned to Sam's lab only a few moments later. "He was stoic and stubborn."

"Told ya." She said with an amused smile.

"He said I should be patient."

Sam chuckled. "We're going to find out tomorrow, Jack."

"I know." He admitted. "I just...it's starting to feel...real, you know?"

"Oh, it's been real for a while, thanks." She said somewhat sarcastically. "Waking up at six-thirty so I could puke...that felt real."

"Yeah, but I wasn't there for most of that." He said, pointedly.

"True." She said, nodding. "One of the books I read said you might be feeling like an observer during this whole process..."

"A book, Carter?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I haven't done this before, Jack." She said, seriously. "I like to have at least SOME idea of what I'm up against..."

He nodded after a moment. "Yeah, I guess so."

She gasped as she placed a hand on her stomach.

"What?" He asked, hurrying to her side.

"It was weird...this...fluttering..." She said, biting her lip.

"Fluttering..."

"Yeah..." She said, looking over at him. "The way it feels when something like a bug...is crawling on you...only it's on the...inside..."

He looked at her strangely before she looked at the calendar on the wall.

"What are you doing?" He asked, curiously.

"Well, I have this...calendar where I wrote all of the...rough estimates of things I can expect..." She said, looking at it for a few moments with her signature look of concentration.

"And?"

"A ha!" She cried, triumphantly.

"What?" He asked more impatiently.

"I think that was the baby kicking...a little early, but not so early that it's impossible..."

"Kicking...as in..."

"As in we've got a healthy baby in there, Jack." She said with a grin.

Discretion was quickly laid aside as Jack leaned in and kissed her tenderly. "I love you, Samantha Carter." He said after a moment as he ran one of his calloused fingers over her cheek in a gentle caress.

"I love you too, Jack O'Neill." She said with a serene smile.

There was a cough from the doorway, and they looked over, curiously.

"I'll...come back..." Dr. Lee said, hurrying away.

A moment passed before Sam and Jack found themselves chuckling together at the strange encounter.


	14. It's a Girl!

_The next day:_

"I hate hospitals." Jack groaned.

"Jack..." Sam warned as she looked over from the table she lay upon.

"Sorry..."

"Thank you."

"Do doctors take classes on keeping their patients waiting?" Jack asked after another moment.

"Jack!"

"Sorry...I'm trying."

"Uh huh..." She said, skeptically.

"I never said I was succeeding, did I?"

"Well, that was a given." She chuckled as the ultrasound technician walked into the room.

"Colonel Carter?" She asked, looking over at Sam.

Sam nodded. "Yep."

"Hi. I'm Christie. I'll be your technician today." She looked over at Jack. "You must be the baby's father."

"Uh...yeah." He said, nodding.

"Great. Well, let's get this show on road." She grinned as she turned on the machine. She looked over at Sam. "You're going to want to pull your shirt up and probably push the waist of your pants down to give us full access to your belly."

Sam did as she was instructed, and the tech retrieved a small bottle of gel. "I'm going to put this on your stomach, and then we're going to use the wand to swirl it around before we look more closely."

"Okay." Sam said, nodding.

"Sorry if it's a little cold. I tried to warm it up..."

"That's okay." Sam chuckled as Christie squirted the gelatinous substance on her stomach. "Ooh..." She whispered, involuntarily.

"Okay..." The technician said, swirling the wand around her stomach so that it was covered in the gel. "Do you guys want a boy or a girl?"

"Healthy." Sam said, seriously. "Other than that...we're happy."

Christie grinned as she looked at the screen. "Well, guys, there's your baby."

Sam looked at the screen. Emotion flooded her as she realized that the tiny creature on the screen was the human life that she was protecting within her.

"Whoa..." Jack whispered beside her.

She looked over at him for a moment as she reached for his hand.

He managed a small smile. "Looks like you're doing a good job, Sam." He said, softly.

"Looks like you've been taking good care of me." She said, tenderly.

"There's an arm." The tech said, pointing to a section of the screen. "And the head. You can see the eyes there..."

The technician moved to another area of Sam's belly before she grinned. "We can't be absolutely sure until the birth, but it seems you're going to have a girl."

Sam inhaled sharply as the reality of it washed over her. "A girl?"

"A daughter..." Jack said, thoughtfully. "I'll bet she's going to be as beautiful as her mother."

Sam chuckled as she turned teary eyes up to him.

He kissed her forehead before they turned back to looking at the image of their daughter on the screen.


	15. Family Reunions

_Friday:_

"This is a bad idea." Jack said as they landed in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

"Jack, it's about time I met your family." She sighed. "And it's about time you saw them again too."

"Can't we send them a postcard from that planet with the beaches and...you know...skimpy bikinis Urgo was talking about..."

"Jack..."

"I know...I know..." He said, shaking his head. "I need to do this for me. I got it the first thousand times you said it."

"Just enjoy yourself, Jack." She admonished gently as they walked into the terminal.

"Uncle Jack!" A man in his thirties, who looked a great deal like Jack, called as he waved to them.

"Steve!" Jack grinned as he guided Sam over to him.

"Mom wanted me to come and pick you guys up from the airport." He said with a grin.

"Thanks. Saved us the trouble of renting a car." Jack chuckled. "Steve, may I introduce you to my fiance, Samantha Carter. Sam, this is my nephew, Steve."

"Nice to meet you, Steve." She said with a warm smile.

"Mom told us that you'd been busy, Uncle Jack. I had no idea that she was the reason why." Steve teased, motioning to Sam.

She blushed lightly.

"Well...you know, there was work in there...somewhere..."

Steve laughed as he took Sam's roll-aboard suitcase from her. "Come on. Mom's anxious to see you, and honestly, so's Aunt Marsha."

Jack stiffened slightly at the name of his estranged sister.

Sam squeezed his hand gently.

He turned a grateful smile to her, and she returned it with a discreet wink.

"Do you have anything at baggage claim?"

"No." Sam said, shaking her head. "Just roll-aboards..."

"That's right...you're military. You know how to do that sort of stuff." He laughed.

"Exactly." Sam chuckled.

"So, Sam, my mom said that Uncle Jack said you two were expecting a baby in January."

"It's true." She said with a small smile. "January 31st actually."

"That's great. My wife, Kendra, is also expecting. She's due in October so life's getting a little crazy at my house."

Sam chuckled softly.

"Do you have any other kids?"

"Nope." She said, shaking her head. "This is my first."

"Ah. Cool." He said with a brilliant smile as he opened the door to his car for her. "Well, in about ten minutes, we'll be home, and you'll meet the rest of our crazy family."

"Oh, mine's plenty crazy." She chuckled.

"I highly doubt it's quite as bad as ours." He smiled as he closed the door.

"Wanna bet?" She asked under her breath.

Jack laughed. There was just something about having family reunions with a father, who was part Tok'ra, that must have been interesting.

"Well, Grandma came in last night, and she's waiting eagerly for your arrival, Uncle Jack."

"I'm looking forward to seeing her too." He admitted.

"And while everyone wants to see Uncle Jack, everyone's more excited about meeting his fiance." Steve laughed.

Sam smiled appreciatively. "Good thing I caught a nap on the flight, then."

"Exactly." Steve smiled.

As promised, they arrived at a modest house just ten minutes later.

Sam felt nervous butterflies rise in her stomach. She was about to meet Jack O'Neill's family.

"It's going to be okay." Jack said, looking over at her. "I don't think they're...too...crazy..."

"You're so helpful." She said, sarcastically.

He chuckled. "They'll love you. It's me that they may or may not be too thrilled about seeing."

"Shall we find out, sir?"

He smiled softly. "Move out, Carter."

"Yes, sir." She said with a wink.

--

Steve led them into the house, Sam's bag in one hand. "Mom! We're here!"

Lisa, a short, round blond-haired woman in her fifties, hurried out. "Jack!"

Behind her was a trail of people who all came and embraced Jack. A woman in her late thirties and seven months pregnant came out, followed by a three-year-old. "Uncle Jack!" She cried.

"Kendra." He said with a grin. "How are you?"

"Just great." She grinned. "This is baby Jack." She said, motioning to the toddler who hung back shyly.

Jack threw a questioning glance to his nephew who shrugged. "I had a moment of weakness."

Jack laughed as he picked the little boy up. "Hey there, buddy!"

Sam smiled as she watched him. Within a few minutes, he'd warmed up to Jack, laughing and giggling.

"Johnny!" An elderly woman cried as she made her way across the room slowly.

Jack put little Jack down, and walked over to his mother. He hugged her tightly. "Hi, Mom."

He pulled away from the embrace a moment later and motioned to Sam. "Mom, I want you to meet my fiance, Samantha Carter."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. O'Neill." Sam said with a small smile.

"Oh please...it's either Mom or Liz." The older woman said with a twinkle in her eye. Clearly, Jack had gotten his goofy charm from his mother.

"All right...Mom..." Sam said hesitantly for a moment as she leaned in for a hug.

Jack offered her a supportive smile, knowing how hard it was for the term of endearment to appear casual to her.

Another woman walked out from the shadows, and Jack looked at her for a moment, wondering what to do.

"Hi, big brother." Marsha said with a small smile. "It's been a while."

"Yeah." He said, getting choked up. "It has."

She hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "I should have listened to you..."

"Hey...it's okay." He said, softly. "I know how hard it can be."

"Sam, let's get you off your feet." Lisa invited, motioning to the living room couch.

"Oh, thanks." She admitted, gratefully as she sat down on the couch.

"How did you and Jack meet?" Kendra asked, sitting beside her.

Sam looked at Jack for a moment with an affectionate smile. "We used to work together, he and I."

"Really?" They asked, surprised.

She nodded. "Yeah. In deep space radar telemetry. I was one of the supervising scientists, and he was one of the ranking military supervisors."

"Sounds like love at first sight to me..." Lisa said somewhat facetiously.

Sam and Jack laughed with the group, though they knew better.

"Wait a minute, you said 'was'?" Kendra asked, looking back at Sam.

Sam nodded as she turned a proud smile to him. "I'm still in Deep Space Radar Telemetry, but now, he's a Major General working at the Pentagon."

"You didn't say you'd been promoted to general!" Lisa cried, looking over at Jack.

"I..." He began.

Sam smiled softly as he received a round of well-deserved congratulations.

"Hey, Sam was a Captain when I first met her in 1997, and now she's a full-bird Colonel only twelve years later."' Jack said, seriously.

"You're obviously a very well-accomplished couple." Kendra said, impressed.

"And expecting a baby together." Lisa said with a grin. "Tell me again, when are you due?"

Sam grinned. "January 31st of next year."

"Do you know if it will be a boy or a girl?"

Sam looked at Jack, giving him the chance to say something.

"Well...the sonogram wasn't perfectly conclusive..." He said, seriously. "But..."

Sam grinned as he passed the baton back to her. "They think it's a girl."

If Sam thought that Vala had made a lot of noise at the announcement, she had obviously not met the women in Jack's family. Almost instantly, there were hugs and tears and pats on the backs and triumphant cries.

Jack smiled as he caught Sam's gaze from across the room before he heard a soft voice beside him. "Congratulations, Johnny. I always knew you'd get a second chance."

He looked down at his mother who stood beside him, a white-haired, five-foot-one testament of O'Neill strength and fortitude. He smiled before looking back at Sam. "Yeah, Mom. I know you did."


	16. Grandpa

"Do you go up to Grandpa's cabin anymore, Jack?" Marsha asked, over dinner a few nights later.

"Are you kidding?" Sam asked, looking over at her future sister-in-law. "Any time he was taking time off, he'd come into my lab, and ask me if I wanted to go fishing."

"Sounds like Jack!" Sean laughed loudly.

"From the day he learned how to hold a fishing pole in his hands, he never wanted to go anywhere but my father's cabin." Liz said, turning to Sam. "In fact, when he died, he left that cabin to Jack. It was one of the many things they had in common - that love of fishing."

"For the art of fishing; not necessarily for the fish." Marsha said with a fond smile.

"Grandpa O'Leary was quite a man," Sean said, nodding. "Quite a man."

"Never knew a man finer," Jack said soberly.

Sam smiled softly as she felt his fingers slip over hers underneath the table, squeezing her hand affectionately.

"Do you remember when he tried to teach Marsha how to ride a bike?" Jack asked, looking at his brother.

Marsha blushed as Sean laughed. "Oh yeah! That was one of the best moments of my life!"

"I had to get stitches!" Marsha cried, embarrassed.

"Only because you wouldn't brake!" Sean chuckled. "Grandpa O'Leary was standing at the top of the hill, running as fast as he could yelling "oh for God's sake, Marsha, just brake!""

Sam couldn't help but laugh.

"Ah, but that's nothing like when Jack started to drive." Liz said, seriously. "My father came home and insisted that Jack was going to crash into some river, and that they would both be "swimming with the fishes" for the rest of eternity."

Jack blushed as Sam glanced at him with a small chuckle.

"I swear there were times when Grandpa thought he was part Italian." Sean said, seriously.

Jack laughed at the truth of it all. He looked over at Sam. "When the Godfather movies came out, my grandfather would sit in his recliner - you know the leather one at the cabin - and just watch them over and over and over. To this day, I can't watch those movies without smelling him." His eyes started looking out into space for a moment. "He smelled like...beer, cigars, Old Spice, and pine all rolled into one."

Marsha, Sean, and Liz all nodded soberly.

"Then...he just...up and died." Jack said after a moment. "Heart attack, the doctors said."

Sam put her hand on his knee and squeezed it gently so that he would know she was there.

"I never could look at that old chair in the corner of the living room anymore." Sean said, seriously.

"Why do you think I put it in the cabin?" Liz asked her son. "I couldn't bear to look at it either."

The table was quiet for a moment, and Sam looked at Jack. The night before, he had told her that he thought his family should know about Sara. She wondered if he was going to tell them now.

He coughed. "Um..." He began as he breathed deeply. "I...I have something I need to tell you while we're...talking about this..."

"Yes?" Liz asked, looking over at him.

He sighed. "I...well, actually...Sam and I...had lunch with Sara the other day..."

The whole table looked at him intently.

"She, uh...she told me something I didn't want to hear..."

He paused again, and Sam could tell how hard it was for him to keep going. She looked up at his family. "What Jack is trying to say is that...well, she has stage four ovarian cancer. She's not expecting to make it through to next year..."

"I'm sorry, Jack." Lisa finally managed before anyone else in the family could speak. "This must be so hard for you."

He nodded, swallowing down emotion. "She...she's a good woman...the world could use more like her..."

They all nodded, soberly, as Sean patted his brother on the back from where he sat next to him.

This was what family reunions were supposed to be about, Sam thought to herself. The memories, the forgiveness, the laughter, the tears...this was what they were all about.


	17. Home

_Six weeks later:_

Jack had taken to coming to Colorado Springs every weekend since Sam had announced her pregnancy. The extra effort of going back and forth between two places was worth it, in his opinion, because of the time he got to spend with her.

Still, he had been detained longer than usual in DC, and was afraid that Sam had gone to bed already.

He looked quizzically at the round objects on the front porch. They looked like pumpkins...

He opened the door and turned on the porch light before getting a better look at them. He couldn't help but chuckle. On one side of the porch, he saw the Simpson family. Marge, Homer, Bart and Lisa. On the other, he saw himself, Sam and a baby pumpkin that had a baby's face carved out of it.

"Nice and festive, Sam." Jack laughed to himself.

"Like the Jack-o-lantern out there?" Sam asked as he entered the house.

He chuckled. "Yeah. Really funny..."

"It was actually Teal'c's idea if you can believe it." She said with a smile.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. He said he'd seen pumpkins on people's stoops when he ventured into the "real world" once in a while, and that he wanted to try to carve one. He did the all of the Simpsons."

"Oh? Who did the rest?"

"Well, Cam did the little one, Vala did me, and Daniel did you."

"And you..." He prodded gently.

"I posed." She grinned.

He laughed before kissing her tenderly. "Okay, little lady...off to bed with you...past your bedtime."

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you patronizing me?"

"Yes." He said, nodding. "Is it working?"

She rolled her eyes. "Come to bed and tell me about the Pentagon. I'm sure I'll be so fascinated I'll dream about it."

"Oh yeah...budget hearings with the Senate Appropriations Committee are anything but dull..." He said, rolling his eyes as he followed.

"Oh...I forgot to tell you..." She said as she slipped between the covers. "I asked Mark and his family to come for Thanksgiving. Katie and Logan will be back for a few days, and I thought it might be nice to have a family Thanksgiving."

"Sounds good." He said, nodding.

"We can still invite the team if we want..."

"We'll see if they want to come." He said, shrugging somewhat noncommittally.

"Of course." She said, nodding.

He scooted over to her and scooped her into his arms. "Hm...this is nice." He murmured as he closed his eyes.

She smiled softly. "Yeah...that's what they all say." She teased.

He chuckled before rolling over and turning out the table lamp. He returned quickly to her embrace. "Much better..."

"If you say so," she laughed as she closed her eyes.


	18. Overexertion

_Three weeks later:_

Sam reached for her jacket at the end of her shift. Home seemed so inviting now, she thought to herself. Jack was still in DC, and she missed him terribly, but there was still something about being able to look at walls that were made of something other than concrete.

She reached for her purse as the phone rang. She debated internally for a moment about whether or not to answer it. Finally, she walked over to the wall, and picked up the phone that hung there. "Carter."

"Colonel Carter, we need you in the Gate room." Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman said, soberly. "We're getting some anomalous readings from the Gate."

She sighed. "I'll be right there, Chief."

She hung up the phone, took off her jacket, and put away her purse. She sighed as she hurried as quickly as she could to the Gate room.

--

_Thirteen hours later:_

Sam finally walked into her house, exhausted. Anomalous readings on a super-charged device that was connected to an open wormhole was never good, and since she was the world's foremost expert on Gate technology, she had been called in to look at it.

Now, her body protested her actions very loudly.

She took off her jacket and placed it unceremoniously on the coat rack by the door. She rubbed her temple as she tried to ward off the headache which had plagued her for most of the evening and into the early hours of morning.

She was too old and too pregnant for this. It had been a long time since she'd gone home as the sun was coming up; her new job as the military supervisor of the scientific community in Cheyenne mountain had assured her that much.

Every part of her ached, and she longed to just lay in bed until Jack returned this weekend.

Somehow, she knew that her twelve-hour respite granted to her by General Landry at the insistence of his daughter, the Chief Medical officer of the base, would not allow her that much latitude.

Still, she was so tired that she couldn't sleep.

She reached for her cell phone. Thank heavens DC was two hours later than she was. She would catch Jack at work instead of half-asleep in bed.

She pressed and held "2" on her phone as the speed dial instantly put in a call to Jack's cell.

"Hello, you've reached General Jack O'Neill." She heard Jack's recorded voice greet. "Thanks for your call. Right now, I'm unable to answer your call, so please leave a message with your name and phone number and best time to reach you, and I'll return your call."

The automated beep started almost instantly. "Hi, Jack, it's Sam." She began. "I just wanted to call and let you know that I'm home safely. Something weird happened at work, and I had to stay there all night, but I'm fine and so's the baby. We're just tired. Give me a call whenever you have a free minute. Love you."

She hung up the phone as she sat on the couch with a yawn. Maybe she would be able to sleep after all.

--

_"Sam!" Cam called, shooting the Ori soldier in front of her._

_She was doubled in pain, clutching her stomach. "Gah..." She groaned._

_"Sam!" Cam cried, coming over to her._

_"Agh..." She grimaced as he unknowingly jerked her wound painfully._

_He gave her a confused look, and she pulled her hand from the offended spot on her abdomen. Her hand and shirt were covered in blood as she felt darkness claim her._

"Agh..." Sam groaned as she awoke.

Her hand went to the spot of her injury only to find a very large bump caused by her baby instead.

"It was just a dream..." She consoled herself as she realized she'd fallen asleep on the couch. It had felt so real.

She stood. Time to find her way to the bedroom for some real sleep, not just a kinked neck.

Her stomach growled, and she looked down at it for a moment. Maybe she'd stop by the kitchen first.

She stood after a moment's struggle, and walked slowly up the stairs to the kitchen. She opened the cabinet, biting the inside of her cheek as she studied the contents. The baked Nacho Cheese Dorito's, her one guilty pleasure, looked appetizing, and she stretched her arm to the top shelf as she reached for them.

Just then, a shooting pain through her abdomen caused her to fall to the floor in agony. She gritted her teeth as she tried to breathe through the pain and come up with a plan of action. She was alone in the house and needed to get to the Air Force Academy hospital ASAP. Maybe she could collect herself long enough to make a phone call to Daniel or Teal'c or Vala...

She bit her lip as she forced herself to drag herself up on her hands and knees. She wouldn't lose this baby. She knew Jack might never survive losing another child, and quite honestly, she wasn't sure she could do it either.

She reached for the cell phone as another pain shot through her. She felt the cold metal and plastic of her phone against the palm of her hand as she fell back to her side. She tried to press and hold the "3", the speed-dial for Daniel. "Help..." She weakly repeated over and over until she couldn't help but succumb to the blackness that threatened to envelope her.


	19. Emergency

"Hello, Lieutenant." Jack said with a worn smile on his face as he re-entered his office. "Any messages while I was in that stupid meeting with the breed of human beings I most despise?"

She nodded, nervously.

"What is it?" He asked, noticing her hesitancy.

"You've gotten about ten calls from a Dr. Jackson." She said, seriously. "He said it's an emergency."

"Get him on the phone." Jack said urgently as he hurried into the office.

"Yes, sir." She said, a hand on the phone as she dialed.

It was only a moment before the intercom lit up. "Dr. Jackson is on line one for you, sir."

"Thank you." He said, picking up the phone. "Daniel."

"Jack, what the hell have you been doing?" Daniel demanded. "I've been trying to reach you for two hours!"

"I was tied up in meetings, Daniel. What is it?"

"It's Sam. Something happened when she went home; she called me just before she passed out. They got her to the Air Force Academy hospital..."

"Is she okay?

"So far, she and the baby are okay."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." He said, hanging up the phone. "Lieutenant!" He roared as he grabbed his hat and jacket.

"Yes, sir." She said, walking into the office.

"I need to speak to General Landry two hours ago. Cheyenne Mountain."

"Yes, sir." She said, nodding as she scrambled to the telephone. A moment later, she poked her head through the open door. "He's on line one, sir."

He picked up the phone. "Hank."

"Jack! What can I do for you?"

"Get me to the Air Force Academy Hospital right now. Get the Odyssey, Thor, or the Devil himself to get me into that hospital."

"Jack, what's going on?"

"Now, Hank." Jack barked.

"Okay, Jack, calm down."

"I need to get there as soon as humanly or alienly possible." He said, evenly.

"I've sent the message with Walter. You should get a response almost immediately." He said, seriously.

A white light engulfed Jack as Lt. Powell stared at the now-empty room and dangling phone receiver in surprise.

--

Jack appeared in a janitorial closet. With little patience, he shook off the brooms and mops which had fallen on him upon his disturbance of their habitat. He climbed over buckets as he hurried to the door.

He emerged a few moments later, and walked over to the nurse's station. "Colonel Samantha Carter's room."

"It's right here, Jack." Daniel said from across the hallway.

"Thank you, Danny." Jack said, taking swift steps toward the room.

"Jack...they said no visitors yet."

"I don't give a damn." Jack said seriously as he walked into the room.

Sam lay on a white hospital bed, her eyes closed gently in sleep.

In a moment, he had taken her hand. "Sam," he whispered, trying to wake her.

"She's not going to wake up. Not yet." Daniel said from behind him. "Apparently, they gave her a mild sedative."

"What happened, Danny?" Jack asked, looking back at his friend.

"Apparently, she went into preterm labor." Jack opened his mouth to speak, but Daniel continued first. "They managed to stop it, but they're a little worried about her given her age her line of work."

"What are they going to do?"

"Well, I think they've been running a few tests and I heard the term 'bedrest' tossed around between the doctors, but I'm not family, and they're not telling me everything."

"Thank you, Daniel." Jack said, looking back at Sam.

Daniel knew instantly that he was talking about more than just the report on Sam's condition, he was talking about taking care of Sam while he couldn't.

"You would have done the same for me." Daniel said, seriously.

Jack nodded. "Yeah." He inhaled. "I should be here, Daniel...I shouldn't be halfway across the country from her. Not while she's going through this..."

"What choice do you have, Jack?"

"I don't know." He whispered. "I've already put in for retirement, and I'm really just biding my time until they tell me to pack my bags..."

"Then you're doing the right thing." Daniel said, softly.

"What good did that do Sam when she was at home alone in trouble?" Jack demanded.

"Jack, if you want, I'll take some time off. As a civilian consultant who's been chained to my desk for the past ten years, I can afford it. I'll keep an eye on her during the week until you get back for the weekend. Then, when you officially retire, I'll go back to work. It can't be too long, right?"

"It shouldn't be longer than a month."

"Excellent. I could use some time to work on a paper...prove to the academic world that I'm not dead."

Jack sighed. "Are you sure?"

"Jack, I'm sure." He said, seriously. "She's like my sister I never had, and you know what I would do for family."

Jack nodded. "Yeah."

"Besides, Teal'c, Vala and Cam are probably going to want to help from time to time."

Jack bit the inside of his cheek. "Okay. We'll pitch the idea to Sam."

"She's never going to go for it. She's too independent..."

Jack inhaled and exhaled. "Daniel, I don't know what I would do if I lost either of them...and I know that medicine has gotten better over the years, but I also know childbirth isn't without it's risks...even with all of our...technology..."

"Then maybe I'm wrong." Daniel said, softly. "If she knows how you feel about it, maybe she'll say yes."

"I hope so, Danny." Jack said, soberly. "I really hope so."


	20. Inadequacy

Sam's eyelids felt like they weighed fifty pounds each when she regained consciousness.

She finally opened her eyes a moment later as she swallowed, gently. "Jack..." She murmured.

"I'm here, Sam." He said as she turned her head toward the sound of his voice. He gently smoothed her hair as he looked into her face. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got shot and drugged all at the same time." She admitted, honestly.

"Sorry to hear that." He said, earnestly. "But the good news is that you and the baby have stabilized."

"That's good." She said with a small smile.

"The bad news is that they're pretty insistent on bed rest."

She sighed softly.

"Still, with Daniel's willingness to stay with you during the week until I'm replaced at the Pentagon, and if we get Thanksgiving dinner catered, I don't see why Mark and his family can't come over." He said, seriously.

"I should have just had them page Dr. Lee..." She groaned as she touched her head with the palm of her hand. "I feel so stupid..."

"The doctors don't think it was anything you did." He said, gently. "It's just that with your age and your medical history, they want to take a few more precautions. That's all."

"I'm not fit to be a mother," she whispered emotionally as tears welled up in her eyes. "She's not even out in the world yet, and I can't take care of her..."

"What?" He asked, looking at her sincerely. "That's not true, Sam." He said, gently. "You're going to be a great mother, and you're taking care of yourself and the baby as well as anyone I've ever seen or heard of."

By now, the tears were coming, and Jack sat on the bed. He wrapped his arms around her. "Sh..." He whispered. "Sh, it's okay. You're okay."

She clung to him tightly as she released a tear for each of her many fears and insecurities.


	21. Girl Talk

_One week later (two days before Thanksgiving):_

"Thanks for your help, Vala." Sam said, seriously.

She sat up in her bed, her laptop, crossword and sudoku puzzles as well as several books lay around her.

"You're very welcome, Samantha." She said, handing her the sweater she'd requested.

"Have a seat." Sam said, patting the bed beside her. "How are things going?"

"Things? What things?"

"Anything, really." Sam said with a shrug.

Vala sighed. "I don't know...I'm going on missions through the Gate, Adria's gone once and for all...the Ori are gone, and the Priors are back to being their non-brainwashed selves. What's there to tell?"

"Well, Adria's probably a sore spot." Sam said, softly.

"Adria was a power-hungry being that the Ori placed in my body." Vala said, seriously. "She is not, and never was, my daughter."

"Still...it must have hurt to have her die like that..."

"No...." Vala said, avoiding Sam's gaze. "No, it didn't hurt..."

Sam raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"It's not like with you," Vala said, catching her friend's glance. "Your child was conceived in love and union. She will forever embody the love that you share with Jack." She sighed. "Adria...she was a vehicle for pain and suffering. For power and dominion." Vala's eyes looked past the room she was in toward the expanse of space. "No, Adria was never my daughter. She was the child I bore. Nothing more."

"I'm sorry." Sam said, gently.

Vala managed a small smile. "It's all right. Someday, I'll have a daughter. Just not...not right now."

Daniel walked into the room. "Hey, Sam, you okay?"

"I'm fine, Daniel." She said with a grateful smile as Vala hid her face as a handful of tears slipped past her defenses.

"Vala, the timer's gonna ring in a little while." He said, looking over at her. "You gonna come get the pie out of the oven?"

Vala opened her mouth as she wiped at her face.

"She'll be there in a little while. You might want to get it..." Sam suggested.

He gave her a strange look. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." Vala said, using her hair to block his view of her face as she walked out of the room.

He looked at Sam, and she sighed. "I, uh...asked her how things were going...specifically about Adria..."

"Ah." He said, nodding. "I think I'll go see how she's doing."

Sam nodded as she wondered internally whether or not Daniel would clue into how deep Vala had become since her involvement with the Program. She wondered if Daniel would ever see anything past the surface of her friend's skin. "Good idea." She said, softly.


	22. Thanksgiving

Sam thought that she had been tortured before. Goa'uld pain sticks, Goa'uld hand devices, physical abuse at the hands of humans and goa'ulds alike, emotional and psychological warfare such as the Blood of Sokar - they had all been some of the forms of torture that she had endured.

Still, all of the torture which she had endured as a soldier in her twenty or so years of service in the Air Force, paled in comparison with the desire to get up and help as she heard the clanging and the laughter only a few feet away in the kitchen.

The feeling of being excluded from the excitement, however trivial, felt like a personal reminder that she was stuck in her bed for the duration of her pregnancy.

She heard a car pull into the driveway, followed by the sounds of multiple doors slamming. The sound of the doorbell confirmed her suspicions. Mark was here.

Teal'c appeared in the bedroom doorway. "Colonel Carter..."

"Teal'c, I think you can call me Sam." She said with a chuckle.

He nodded. "Very well, Samantha Carter...your brother, Mark Carter has arrived, and I have been summoned to invite you to the living room."

"Invite me?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not supposed to leave my bed."

"No...you're not supposed to walk..." Daniel said, joining Teal'c.

"What's the difference?" Sam asked, looking at him, curiously.

"We have been sent to transport you if you desire." Teal'c said, seriously.

"What?" She asked, surprised.

Without a word, her friends put their arms together to make a little seat for her. Supporting herself by placing her arms about their necks, they carried her into the living room where they set her on the couch in the living room.

"Thanks, guys." She said with a grateful smile.

"You are welcome." Teal'c said with a small smile.

"Hey, sis!" Mark cried as he walked down into the living room.

"Hey there, big brother." Sam said with a grin as he reached down to hug her.

"You look awesome." He said, seriously.

"I look enormous and like I've been on bedrest for the last week." She said, shaking her head.

"Don't sell yourself short, Sam. You're gorgeous." Jack said as he led the rest of the family into the room.

"Well, that's a point in his favor." Leah said with a laugh. "He treats Sam the way she needs and deserves to be treated."

Mark nodded. "Yep. I think if Sam's willing to keep you, we'll have to let you into the family."

Jack chuckled as he sat beside Sam and wrapped an arm around her. "Thanks for the vote of confidence..."

"And you're so absolutely adorable together." Katie said with a twinkle in her eye. "We've got to give him another point."

"He's got another point, Katie..." Mark chuckled.

"Well, from what I understand," Vala butted in. "Your father also held a lot of regard for General O'Neill...so, he should be a shoe."

The whole group looked at her confused.

"A shoo-in..." Daniel corrected. "Shoo-in."

"Oh...right..."

"Something smells fantastic." Logan said from the other side of the room.

"Leave it to the college kid to smell the food." Jack teased.

"No, he's right. It smells heavenly." Sam said, seriously.

"Followed by the pregnant woman." Leah laughed.

"Maybe it's time to eat." Jack chuckled. "The food is kind of buffet-style upstairs...if you want, we can say grace here before we start..."

"Sounds great." Sam said with a grin as the rest of the circle of friends and family nodded.

--

"Today was great." Sam said as Daniel and Teal'c helped her back into bed.

"It was great." Daniel agreed. "Thanks for inviting us."

"You're always welcome." Sam said, seriously. "You're like family."

"As you are to us as well." Teal'c said, bowing respectfully.

"Thanks, Teal'c." She said with a small smile.

"So, uh...Mark..." Jack said, walking into the bedroom.

"Likes you. So does Leah. So Katie and Logan."

"Cool."

She chuckled before she leaned over to him. "I never got to tell you what I'm thankful for."

"That's right...we put the kibosh on that when Vala started going on and on about all of her treasures."

Sam laughed.

"What are you thankful for?" He asked, looking back at her more seriously.

"You. The baby. This new life we have together. Our friends. Our family. The broken, fragmented roads we walked that led to our meeting, and the one that led us to where we are now." She said with a tender smile as she looked into the depths of his brown eyes.

"I'm grateful everyday for you." He said as he touched her cheek gently. "I'm grateful that you love me...despite the fact that you probably know me as well, if not better, than I know myself."

"That's just it, Jack." She whispered. "I love you because I know you that well. Not in spite of it."

He placed his hands on her face as he leaned in and kissed her softly. "I'm looking forward to the rest of our lives." He said soberly.

"So am I." She whispered with a smile.


	23. Retired

_One Week Later:_

Sam groaned as she set down the book in her hands. For heaven's sake, this bedrest stuff was hard!

The phone rang, and Sam groaned. She reached for her phone. "Carter." She sighed.

"Hey." Jack greeted, warmly. "How are you doing?"

She sighed, forcing a smile to her lips. "Better, now that you've called."

"Anything wrong?"

"Oh, I just can't function as a human being anymore because I'm so enormous and on bedrest..." She said with a sigh. "But other than that, I'm great."

"Hey, this part is almost done, right?" He said, trying to be supportive.

She sighed. "Yeah..."

"Why do I get the feeling that's part of the problem?" He asked, gently.

"I don't know...usually, I embrace the unknown. But I know just enough about the unknown that I'm...nervous..."

"Sorry." He said apologetically. "I can't help you there."

"I know." She said with a small sigh.

"I do have an idea, though."

"Oh?"

"Invite the team to Christmas there at the house in Colorado."

She inhaled as she thought about what it would be like to have a quiet Christmas at home. Honestly, it sounded heavenly. "Actually, Jack...it sounds great."

"I know. That's why I thought of it." He said with a smile.

"Maybe we can get the "domestic diva" to cook the food..." She joked.

He laughed. "Or I could do that..."

"You're not here right now, Jack." She said, softly. She felt alone; she was tired of feeling alone.

"I'm just getting into the driveway." He promised. "I'll be there in just a matter of minutes."

She sighed. "I just...want to be...emotionally independent."

"Honey, you're pregnant. You need the support. I promise I'll be there in like...one minute."

"You can't keep leaving your job just to make sure I'm happy. The rest of the world needs you, Jack."

"Not anymore, Sam."

"What?" She asked, surprised.

The bedroom door opened, and she looked over at it. "Jack?" She asked, surprised.

He smiled as he hung up the phone. "Hi."

"What did you mean by the world doesn't need you anymore?"

"It means that they finally let me retire." He said, seriously.

"What?" She asked, stunned.

"As of today, I'm done. Landry's taking my place, and they're looking for a new commander of the SGC."

"You're home." She whispered as tears welled up in her eyes.

She tried to hide them from him, but he walked over to her swiftly. "Yeah, I am." He said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "And I'm never leaving again."

She wrapped her arms around his neck as she hugged him tightly. "I missed you." She admitted.

"I missed you too, Sam." He said, gently. He pulled away so that he could look her in the eye. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine." She said with a sigh. "I'm complaining too much as usual, but I'm fine."

"Good to hear it." He said, seriously.

She smiled softly as she gently caressed his cheek. "I might not like the fact that I have to stay in bed, but I'm here and following doctor's orders."

"Thank you." He said, seriously. "Now...what can I do or get for you?"

"Could you make me some herbal tea?" She asked after a moment. "I'm a little cold...and a little thirsty."

"We have herbal tea?"

"Yeah. Peppermint, actually..." She said as she stretched her legs out in front of her.

"Liked the stuff my elderly neighbor gave to me for Christmas last year, did you?"

"Yeah." She said with a breathless chuckle.

"Do you want a foot rub when I get back?" He asked, noticing her grimace as she rubbed her thighs.

"It's okay..." She said, shaking her head.

"It's no trouble." He insisted. "I'll start getting the water heated, and then I'll be back here. Two minutes."

"Okay." She chuckled.

True to his word, Jack was back almost instantly. He sat beside her on the bed, and easily lifted her legs and rested them on her lap.

He gently took off her shoes and socks. "Jack..." She protested, gently.

"Sam..." He said, looking back at her.

She managed a faint smile as her eyes closed tiredly against the headboard.

He placed his strong hands on her right foot and gently rubbed it. "Ooh..." She groaned as he applied pressure to a particularly tender area of her foot.

"You okay?" He asked, looking back at her.

"Yeah...just...that hurt..."

"Tell me if you want me to stop." He said, concentrating on that spot.

She grimaced as he continued to work on it before she finally twisted in pain. "Okay..."

"Sorry." He said, stopping.

"It's okay." She said, inhaling as she relaxed against the headboard.

He moved his hands up to her calf, gently rubbing it in a circular motion. "That feels good." She said seriously.

"That's the point." He said with a small smile.

The kettle's whistle caused Sam to jolt from her relaxation for a moment.

"I'll be right back." Jack said as he gently moved her legs off of his lap and hurried to tend the boiling water.

It was nice to know that Jack was back, and that he wouldn't be leaving again on Sunday afternoon.


	24. Christmas Eve

_Two weeks later - December 24:_

Sam walked gingerly to the couch. "How on Earth did you convince Dr. Jameson to give me a two-day reprieve for the holiday?"

"I told him you'd be staying on the couch." Jack teased.

She groaned. "Oh, thanks..."

"More seriously, he said he'd feel better if this was after you'd hit the 36-week mark, but that since that's really only a week or so away, he was willing to let you off early for good behavior."

She gave him a patronizing smile. "Oh, gee...thanks...make me sound a prisoner..."

"Hey, it's a change of scenery, right? Just what the doctor ordered."

She rolled her eyes as he helped her down the few steps into the living room as the doorbell rang.

"There's the team!" Jack grinned as he bounced over to the door. "Hey, Danny! Hey, Vala!"

"Hey, Jack," Daniel greeted. "Merry Christmas."

"Backatcha."

"How are you feeling, Sam?" Daniel asked as he walked into the living room and saw her sitting on the couch.

"I've been better, but I've also been worse." She admitted.

Daniel nodded, recognizing the philosophical nature of her comment.

"How about you guys?"

"Ah...well...so far so good actually..."

"Good." Sam said with a smile.

"Where are the rest of the team?" Jack asked looking at Daniel.

"Oh, uh, well...Teal'c's on Dakara spending his leave with Rya'c and Cor'in and Mitchell's in Kansas. Something about Amy Vandenburg..."

Sam chuckled at Jack's look of confusion. "The long-distance girlfriend..."

"I still don't see what's so special about her." Vala said, absently. "I mean, she may be marginally attractive, but..."

"You told his parents that you had a serious relationship, and that it had started out as just sex. You really think he would have wanted YOU for a girlfriend?" Daniel asked, looking at her skeptically.

"All right, so I made a bad judgment call. Doesn't everybody?"

Sam bit her tongue with a small chuckle.

"We're supposed to get a fair bit of snow tonight." Daniel said, changing the subject.

"I love snow." Sam said with a small smile. "Especially on Christmas Eve. Call me sentimental, but Christmas just isn't Christmas without snow."

"I just hope that - God forbid anything should happen - we can get you to the Air Force hospital in time." Jack said, seriously.

"I didn't even think about that..." Daniel said, seriously.

"I'm not due until the end of next month. The probability that I'll go into labor on Christmas eve or Christmas day is astronomical."

"Every time you say that, Sam, you're proven wrong." Jack said, seriously.

She threw him a sarcastic smile.

"Can't we just beam her to the hospital?" Vala asked, looking at the other two.

"Nope, the _Odyssey_ isn't in orbit anymore." Daniel shook his head.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Why don't we have Christmas in the waiting room of the hospital and wait there until I go into labor?"

Jack looked at her and then at Daniel. "Can we do that?"

Sam's face fell. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me..."

"No, no, Sam..." Jack said, seriously. "This idea has..."

"NO!" Sam cried. "We're having Christmas here. If - and I stress if - there's a problem, we'll deal with it. But I am NOT camping out at the hospital for the next month waiting to have a baby..."

Jack and Daniel had the grace to look somewhat ashamed.

"Look, I'm having a baby - not losing an arm or a leg. Women have babies every day." She said, seriously. "I get it. It's a little scary right now because of the whole...hospital thing a few weeks ago. It's probably even prudent to be a little nervous. But I am going to enjoy my Christmas, and I can't do that if you're watching me like I'm a bomb that's waiting to explode at any minute. So let's do Christmas, okay? Can you do that for me?"

"Sorry, Sam." Daniel said, instantly. "You're right. I was getting a little...over-the-top."

She released a small sigh. "It's okay, Daniel."

Jack bit the inside of his cheek as he looked over at her. "I'm sorry, Sam..." he finally managed as he stepped out of the room.

Sam sighed before she looked at Daniel and Vala. "I offended him, didn't I?"

"Well, you were a little harsh..." Vala said, uncomfortably.

"Okay," she said, nodding. "Help me up..."

"Sam, I don't think..."

"Daniel..." She warned.

"Helping you up..." He said, instantly helping her.

"Thank you." She said with a slight grimace. "There's one thing about preterm labor they don't tell you...the meds don't always stop labor...just prolong the contractions for the next four, six or eight weeks."

She looked at Daniel as he helped to stabilize her. "I guess I'm a little tired of the whole thing..."

"I would be too." He said, sympathetically.

She gave him a grateful smile as she walked up the stairs to the bedroom. She paused for a moment outside the door as she saw Jack sitting on the bed, looking at the picture of Charlie on his nightstand.

She knocked gently on the door to alert him to her presence. "Can I come in?" She asked, penitently.

He looked over and nodded. "Free country..."

She walked over and sat, slowly, on the bed beside him. She inhaled and exhaled before looking over at him. "I'm sorry." She finally whispered. "Whatever my feelings and insecurities...I shouldn't have yelled. You're just trying to take good care of me."

"No, Sam, you're right. I should let you make decisions instead of telling you what you need to do. That was back when we were still officers in the same chain of command...this is different." He said, quietly.

"And I should have realized that you're not just dealing with the first-time jitters that I'm dealing with; you're dealing with the knowledge of how everything can go wrong." She said, gently. She sighed. "And...I've been a bear to live with for the last couple of weeks...I'm sorry."

"You haven't been a bear to live with." He said, looking over at her.

"Oh?" She asked, raising her eyebrows. "I've been complaining and ordering far more often than I'm entitled to."

He chuckled softly before looking over at her. "It's fine, Sam. Really."

"Maybe it's understandable, but it's not fine." She said, softly. "You've been so supportive...I don't tell you that enough."

He wrapped his arm around her as he kissed her cheek. "You're worth supporting." He said, simply.

"Shall we go and have a good Christmas?" She asked, looking over at him. "Put all of our bah-humbugs behind us?"

He laughed. "Yeah..."

He stood before turning and offering her the help she needed to get up.

"Oof..." She said, trying to catch her balance.

"You okay?"

"Yeah." She said, seriously. "Fine...just off-balance..."

He chuckled softly before he looked down at her belly. "Givin' Mommy troubles already, are you?"

Sam couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. It might be strange, she mused to see a Major General bending and speaking a woman's unborn child, but that contradiction was one of the reasons she loved him so much.

He looked back up at her. "I think she'll calm down for you now."

"Oh?" Sam asked with a laugh. "What makes you say that?"

"She told me."

"You two are already keeping secrets from me, are you?" She asked with a laugh.

He shrugged, playfully. "Hey...I can't help it if you can't communicate with her yet..."

"Let's go have...Christmas..." She said, shaking her head with a chuckle.


	25. Reminiscing

The wind from the out-of-control snowstorm howled outside as if demanding some attention from the merry band of friends inside the O'Neill house. But with the warmth of the fire in the fireplace and the laughter that pealed periodically, neither Sam nor Jack noticed it while Daniel and Vala ignored it easily.

Sam sat on the couch, snuggled beside Jack while Daniel and Vala sat in chairs opposing the couch.

"You should hear about some of Danny's early adventures with the program." Jack laughed.

"Don't you dare..." Daniel said, glaring at his friend.

"I don't think anyone has ever had worse allergies than Daniel had at that time." Sam laughed.

"Not my fault..."

"Yes, but we had to explain on more than one occasion that your sneezes were not the unveiling of some sort of ill will." Jack said, seriously.

Vala laughed fully delighted by the story. "Tell me more."

"No." Daniel said, looking at her. He looked at his friends. "No. No more."

"What about the time when you were all playing musical chairs with your bodies?" Sam asked with a wicked grin.

"D'oh." Jack said, grimacing as Daniel shuddered.

"That one sounds interesting..." Vala said, looking at Sam.

"It was." She laughed. "I had to figure out how to get their personalites back into their own bodies. Jack spent some time with Junior."

"Junior?" She asked, curiously.

"His name for Teal'c's symbiote while he still carried one." Sam supplied.

"You mean..."

"Yes, he inhabited Teal'c's body for a few days."

"And got quite sick, I might add." Jack said, pointedly.

"Not as sick as me." Daniel said, waving a hand of reminder.

"True." Sam and Jack said, nodding.

"What do you mean?" Vala asked, curiously.

"Well, Jack's never been good at communing with things...inside himself..." Sam said, looking at him for correct phrasing.

He shrugged as he nodded in agreement.

"Meditation is painful for him."

He nodded eagerly. "It's true."

"So, not performing the Kel'noreem ritual was detrimental to his health."

"Jaffa 101." Jack quipped.

Vala's brow furrowed, and Sam shook her head. "Anyway, Daniel had the misfortune of switching with a rather elderly man, Ma'chello, who was dying at the time of an illness that Dr. Fraiser had never seen before."

"By the way, Jack," Daniel said, looking over at the gray-haired man. "The sister thing...not funny..."

Sam chuckled. "We finally managed to convince him that taking Daniel's body by force was no better than the goa'uld whom he was trying to fight."

"You met Ma'chello?" Vala asked, surprised.

"Yes." Sam said, nodding.

"I didn't realize he was real...Que'tesh had heard the legend, but I suppose he was before her time..."

"It's possible." Sam said, nodding seriously. "He was a really old man."

"Sam figured out how to get us all back in our bodies." Jack said, squeezing her shoulder affectionately.

"She's pulled our asses out of the fire more than once." Daniel acknowledged.

"Like you two haven't done your fair share over the years." She said, shaking her head.

"Well, that's true..." Jack said, nodding. "I distinctly remember rescuing you from...what were your words again? Oh, right..."that masogenistic chauvinist of a pig"."

Vala's brow furrowed as Sam's face fell.

"Yeah, by the way, Sam," Daniel continued. "I have a friend who wore a dress almost exactly like the one you had to wear on that planet. She was studying the Mongolian culture."

"Got a headdress to eat?" Jack grinned, feeling quite proud of himself.

"You guys..." Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Vala asked, looking at them curiously.

"There's something you don't know about Sam, here." Daniel said with a laugh.

"She used to be quite a man-hater in her day."

"I never hated men." Sam said, pointedly.

"I'm sorry...I think the term you prefer is "feminist"..." Jack said, amused.

"Must you hold that over my head for the rest of my life? Being assertive about my place on the team was NOT a bad thing..."

"Oh, no..." He said, shaking his head. "I never said it was. But you have to admit that when some of the first words you hear out of a woman's lips are "just because my reproductive organs are on the inside instead of the outside"...you get the feeling that she hates men."

"Ouch." Vala said, seriously.

"I was young and...I didn't know my audience as well as I thought I did." Sam defended, loftily.

Jack laughed. "Yeah..."

They lapsed into silence for a moment before Vala looked over at Jack. "What is File 30185?" She asked, innocently.

He had just taken a sip of his hot chocolate. His surprise caused him to spit it out involuntarily.

Sam and Daniel couldn't help but laugh.

"That...is a file that was sealed upon the request of, uh..."

"Jack, actually." Sam finished.

"Though Sam was right behind him on that request." Daniel laughed.

"How do you know?" She and Jack asked, looking at him, curiously. "You were clueless about what that meant, just like you always have been."

He laughed. "Teal'c has a big mouth for someone who doesn't talk much..."

"What are you talking about?" Vala demanded.

"We can't tell you." Daniel said, looking at her apologetically.

"I thought you couldn't tell Mitchell about it, but that I was fair game..."

"Well...that was when we were trying to mess with his head." Daniel said with a chuckle.

"Still...I want to know..."

Sam looked at Jack before she looked back at Vala. "File 30185 was, uh...well, it had something to do with the fact that, uh..."

"There was a fertility ritual." Daniel said, looking at Sam and Jack with an amused smile flirting with his lips.

They turned red.

"A what?" She asked, her eyebrows shooting up.

"We stumbled on a planet that was praying for a bountiful harvest." Daniel continued. "I wanted to check it out..."

"He said it was for "purely anthropological reasons"." Jack said, using air quotes.

"I did!"

"We didn't think it was wise." Sam said with a shrug. "But it was more because we didn't want to disturb their culture anymore than we already had."

"Well, they were chosen out of the crowd," Daniel continued. "And they had to drink this...stuff..."

"It was...neon green...we should have been worried..." Sam said, shuddering at the memory of it.

"Yep." Jack said in perfect agreement.

"And?"

"And...we woke up the next morning draped in nothing by some sheets, chained to separate trees..." Sam said, blushing. "With...no knowledge...about what had - or hadn't - happened the night before..."

Vala raised her eyebrow high. "You mean, you...?"

"Nope. Teal'c caught them before the act itself..." Daniel said, seriously. "But the villagers were LESS than happy. That address has been since locked out of our dialing computer."

"What did they try to do?"

"Kill Teal'c for, uh, interfering..."

"I had a rash for like...a year...because of that stuff..." Jack said, scratching his neck at the memory of the alien drink.

"Me too." Sam admitted.

"And I thought my adventures were interesting..." Vala said, shaking her head in absolute wonder.

Sam chuckled before she looked over at Jack. "Come on, my alien companion...let's watch "It's a Wonderful Life" before I fall asleep..."

"I haven't seen that movie!" Vala cried, suddenly.

Daniel shook his head, and Jack chuckled. "It's one of Sam's traditions. She never goes a Christmas Eve without watching it."

"One time, we nearly didn't - we were off world until something like 11:45." Daniel began. "She skipped her shower, went to her quarters and started the movie just so that she could say that she'd seen it on Christmas Eve..."

"That was the Christmas that I thought my dad was dying, and I needed a little stability in my life..." She pointed out.

"I didn't say it was a crazy thing to do. I just said it was a little...out of character for you."

"If you two don't mind, the movie's going to be in our bedroom because otherwise, Sam would have to maneuver the stairs down to the rec room..." Jack said, looking over at the other two.

"Oh, no, that's fine." Vala said, eagerly.

Daniel sighed. "Yeah...no big...it's fine..."

Sam grimaced as she stretched gently. "If you want, we can do it later...just the two of us..."

"No, Sam, it's okay." Daniel said, shaking his head.

Jack looked out the window. "Snow's coming down pretty badly. Maybe you two should spend the night..."

Daniel sighed as he nodded. "Yeah, I was afraid of that."

"You're always welcome, Daniel. You know that." Sam said, seriously.

"Thanks, and I do appreciate that." He said, nodding.

"He just doesn't want to be stuck with me." Vala said, trying to appear nonchalant.

"It's not that, Vala..." Daniel tried to argue.

"Oh?"

"Well...maybe it is that..." He admitted, uncomfortably. "But...it's not because I don't like you...I just don't like your...facade..."

"Facade?" She asked, looking at him curiously.

Sam looked at Jack before she looked at them. "Um...I'm going to go start the movie...come in if you, uh, want to watch it..."

They didn't hear her.

"Yes, Vala...that...flirty...sexy...'everybody wants me' act that you have..." Daniel continued, imitating her flamboyance.

Jack gently helped Sam out of the living room. "Maybe we should give them some space..."

She nodded as Vala's retort could be heard.

"Maybe that 'act' as you call it, isn't an act!"

"Yes, Vala, it is." He continued. "Because you're afraid of something more...committed than causal sex."

"Do you even know the meaning of casual sex?" She demanded as Jack closed the door.

"Can you believe how much electricity those two have?" Jack asked, shaking his head.

"About as much as you and I have..." Sam laughed. "We just hid it better...when we were living our lives separately..."

"To some - namely Daniel - I agree. To others - namely Teal'c - not so much..."

She laughed as she sat on the bed.

Jack turned the movie on before he joined her on the bed.

"I love this movie." Sam said, contentedly, as she snuggled up to him.

"I know." He said with an affectionate smile.


	26. Labor Day?

"Samantha...."

The dream was slipping from her mind faster than she wanted it to. She tried to will herself back to sleep to find out how it ended.

"Samantha..."

"Sam..."

The voices were multiplying, she thought with a groan. It was time to surrender...

She opened her eyes to find Vala and Jack looking at her. "What?"

"You'd better get down to the living room." Vala said with a grin.

Sam looked at the clock on the nightstand. "It's six-thirty!"

"And?"

"And...are we a bunch of kids?" She asked, tiredly.

Jack opened his mouth to speak before she shook her head. "Don't answer that...I forgot that you two practically are kids."

He grinned. "Come on, Sam..."

"I'm coming." She said, forcing herself to sit up and get out of bed. "Ooh..it's cold..." She exclaimed a moment later.

"Here." Jack said, handing her a robe and slippers.

She accepted them, and put them on. He helped her up and they walked into the living room.

Sam gasped at the sight. The living room looked like it had come straight out of "Miracle on 34th Street". "Jack..." She breathed.

"Like it, huh?" He asked with a grin. "Santa said you would..."

She turned a suspicious smile to him. "Santa?"

"Yeah. My good friend and poker buddy, actually." He dead-panned.

She laughed softly.

"Did Vala wake you up too?" Daniel asked, obviously not yet awake.

"Yes." Sam chuckled.

"Coffee's in the kitchen." Jack said, pointing to the coffee pot.

"Thank you," Daniel said with a yawn.

Sam couldn't help but chuckle. "Poor Daniel..."

"Yeah...poor Daniel..." Jack snickered.

"What?"

"I have a feeling he got a...rather unexpected, yet pleasant, Christmas present last night after you fell asleep."

Her eyes widened. "Jack!"

"Look!" Jack pointed through the cut out in the wall between the living room and kitchen. Sure enough, Vala had sauntered up to him.

"Good morning, gorgeous." She winked before kissing him rather slowly.

She couldn't help but chuckle. "Still not as good as Sha're's." She said, shaking her head.

Jack chuckled, remembering their first mission together. "Yeah...well...those kinds of kisses only happen once in a lifetime."

She grinned as he helped her onto the couch. "Well, Jack, you really outdid yourself here." She said, looking around at all of the brightly wrapped gifts. "How on Earth did you hide all of these from me?"

"Honestly?"

"Yeah?"

"You've been a little immobile lately." He chuckled. "Gave me a fighting chance that I had to take. After all, the chances are that next year I won't be able to hide anything from you or from the baby."

She laughed. "Okay...you've got a point there..."

"Do you want to open your gifts first or the baby's?" Jack asked with a cheeky grin.

"The baby hasn't even been born yet, and Santa's delivering her presents?"

"Oh yeah." He said with a grin.

She grimaced for a moment, and Jack looked at her somewhat worried. "I'm fine..." She said, trying to smile up at him.

"You're sure?"

"I think so." She said, nodding as her breathing evened a little.

He tried to hide his worry, but still she noticed it. "This Braxton-Hicks contraction was worse than usual." She said, shaking her head. "I'm fine..."

She looked at the gift he had in his hand as Daniel and Vala returned. "Surprise me..."

"Huh?"

"You asked me if I wanted open my gifts or the baby's?" She reminded. "Surprise me."

"Right..." He said, handing her a small box.

"What is this?" She asked, curiously.

"You said to surprise you." He said, seriously.

She inhaled. "Okay." She opened the box to find a flat, velvet box. She looked up at him, confused.

"Open it." He prodded, gently.

She nodded as she opened the box. Inside lay a simple chain with a solitary diamond on it. She gasped as she looked up at him with teary eyes. "Jack it's..."

"It's for the baby." He teased.

She laughed. "Jack..."

"Okay, okay...diamonds are a big girl toy." He teased.

She laughed softly before her face instantly twisted in pain and she began breathing heavily.

"Sam?"

"I think my water just broke..." She managed as she grasped the arm of the couch somewhat worriedly.

Daniel was instantly at her side as Jack opened the door. "Damn! Why'd I go and sell the truck?"

Jack returned to the couch as Daniel and Vala helped Sam onto her feet. "There's like...three feet of snow. If I had my truck, I could have plowed through it, but..."

"Jack, it'll be okay." Daniel said, looking over at him. "Why don't you call her doctor and see what he recommends?"

"Good idea." Jack said, pulling out his cell phone and fumbling with it to find the doctor's number.

"How are you, Sam?" Daniel asked, looking at his friend as he helped her slowly walk to her bedroom.

She gave him a sick smile.

"You're going to be fine." He assured, gently.

"Tell me that when you have a license to practice medicine..." She said, swallowing nervously.

"I assume you want it to be legal..." Vala said, pensively.

Sam laughed somewhat desperately as she climbed into bed.

"Samantha, you need to relax." Vala said, gently.

She inhaled as she nodded slowly. "You're right..."

Jack hurried into the bedroom. "I had to leave a message." He looked over at Sam. "You okay?"

"More than a little nervous." She admitted.

"Vala, why don't you call 9-1-1, see if they can get a team of paramedics?" Daniel said, looking over at her.

"Right...I will." She said, standing.

Jack walked over to where Sam sat. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'll be fine." She said, trying to be brave. "Especially if...the paramedics are able to come...although with the snow like it is..."

"You'll be fine, Sam." He assured as he took her hand.

"I hope so." She whispered. "Jack...I'm...I'm scared..."

"I'm here." He said, wrapping his arms around her. "I'm here, and you and the baby are going to be okay..."

He held her tightly for a few more minutes before Vala walked into the bedroom. "I have emergency medical personnel on the phone..." She said, wondering what to do.

Daniel took the phone. "Hello? This is Dr. Daniel Jackson." There was a pause. "No, you don't understand...I'm an archaeologist."

Sam's attempt at laughter at the misunderstanding sounded more like a strangled sob.

Jack rubbed her back, and looked at Daniel, hoping that the archaeologist would be able to find a way to calm Sam down.

"Sam," Jack said, thinking quickly. "Do you remember when we went fishing for the first time?"

"Could I ever forget?" She asked, closing her eyes. "We never caught any fish..."

"What did I tell you?" He asked, gently.

"It's about the art...not the fish..."

"No...after that..."

She inhaled sharply as her grip on his hand tightened. "Forgive me...It escapes me at the moment..."

"I told you to enjoy the moment..."

She pegged him with a glare.

"I don't mean now..." He corrected quickly. "I meant that after that, you sat back and listened to the birds and the water. You let the stillness wash over you."

He noticed her breathing deepen as she leaned back and thought about it.

"You said you'd never been more relaxed in your whole life." He said, gently.

"Um-hm..." She murmured.

"Good job, Jack." Daniel whispered, softly.

He managed a small smile. "Thanks, Danny."

"You're welcome, Jack." Daniel said with a small, but sober, smile.


	27. Birthday

_Several hours later:_

"What's going on?" Jack asked, walking over to where Daniel and Vala stood, talking.

"Apparently, the city officials are trying to get the snow plowed so that they can get a team in here to take care of Sam, but...it's Christmas day and there aren't many volunteers..."

"Doesn't anyone realize that this pregnancy has already had more than it's share of complications?" Jack asked with a sigh.

"Look...I called Cheyenne Mountain to see if there was anything they could do..."

"And?"

"They're trying to figure something out...the best case they can think of is to use the Chimera Optix Projection system to get Dr. Lam projected into the room to monitor her progress..."

"She's going to try to deliver the baby via hologram?" Jack asked, incredulously.

"No, she's going to be here to explain to me what I need to do if something unexpected comes up."

Jack bit the inside of his cheek for a moment. "Okay."

Suddenly, he looked at Daniel. "Sam's got a stargate in the basement...can they use that to send something through? Instruments? Doctors?"

"Wait, Sam has a what in the basement?" Daniel asked, staring at Jack incredulously.

"That...Orbit guy...the Ancient?"

"Orlin?"

"Yeah, him...he built one, and she keeps it around as a puzzle..."

"Uh..." Daniel said, biting the inside of his cheek. "I...have no idea how to respond..."

"Maybe your...uh...Merlin...memories could..."

"Hold on, Jack. I don't have any Merlin memories." Daniel said, raising a hand in protest.

"I think she said it was dead, but...you were Ascended...you can fix it, right?"

"Uh...yeah...sure...I'll, uh...get right on the engineering problem that Sam couldn't solve..." He said, sarcastically. "Look, chances are, someone's going to be able to clear the roads before anything drastic happens..."

"This is drastic, Daniel. Sam's in labor - for real this time - and she's still at home six hours later."

"I understand that you're nervous, Jack, but I can't do my job here if you don't cut me a little slack. I'm doing everything I can, and so is everyone else." Daniel said, evenly.

"You're right...I'm sorry." Jack said with a sigh.

"All right. Sam might want a cool washcloth...she looks like she's getting pretty warm over there." He said, looking over at where she lay.

Jack nodded. "I'll get one."

--

_Two hours later:_

Sam's breathing became more and more haggard as time passed.

"Good job, Sam." Jack said, gently patting her forehead with the cool washcloth in his hand.

"I don't know if I can do this." She said, tiredly. "It's been so long already..."

"Hey, you've blown up a sun, Sam..." He said with an affectionate smile. "You can do anything."

"Jack, that was different...my dad was there to help me..."

"And now, I'm here to help you." He said, gently.

"It was science..."

"This is nature." He said, gently. "You can do this, Sam. I know you can."

"Sam, I see the head." Daniel said, looking back up at her. "I'm going to need you to push again on my mark, okay?"

The holographic Dr. Carolyn Lam watched carefully as Jack and Vala helped Sam sit up enough to push.

"Okay, Sam, push." Daniel commanded, gently.

She gritted her teeth and squeezed Jack and Vala's hands as she pushed with all of her strength.

"Come on, Sam...just a little longer..." Daniel said, looking up at her momentarily.

She grimaced, though she continued to push.

"Okay, Sam. Relax for a minute, okay?" He said, looking back up at her.

Sam, her face red and sweaty, leaned back for a moment as she tried to inhale deeply.

"That was good work, Sam." Daniel said, sincerely.

She didn't react, just tried to prepare herself for another round of pushing.

"Okay, Sam, ready to go again?"

She nodded silently as she took Vala and Jack's hands again. As she began to push, a feral cry emerged from deep within her.

"Keep pushing, Sam." Daniel said, excitedly. "I've almost got her head."

Sam bit down on her lip as she summoned more strength from her reserve to do as he asked.

"Just a little more..." He said, deep in concentration.

She cried loudly as the baby's head was pulled from her.

"I've got her head." Daniel announced. He looked up at Sam. "Take a little rest, Sam, and then we'll push again, okay?"

Sam closed her eyes as she nodded once more.

"You're doing a wonderful job, Samantha. You can do it." Vala said, supportively.

Sam clutched at her hand and at Jack's hand with her own as she pushed once more.

"I've got her, Sam." Daniel said with a grin. "Sam, she's here."

Sam's face was covered with sweat and tears as she lay back against the headboard at the proclamation that her daughter had been born.

Jack couldn't keep his eyes from moistening as he saw their daughter in Daniel's arms while Dr. Lam talked to him about some medical something or other.

He looked back at Sam. "You give the best Christmas presents." He said, proudly.

She chuckled breathlessly as he leaned his forehead against her shoulder as he composed himself for a moment. She touched his arm with her hand as she closed her eyes for a moment.

"Here you go, mama," Daniel said after the umbilical cord had been cut and the baby had been wrapped in a towel. "A healthy baby girl - just what the doctor ordered."

Sam inhaled sharply as she held her baby in her arms for the first time. Tears moistened her eyes. "Oh, she's so beautiful..." She whispered.

"Told you she'd look like her mama." Jack said, tenderly brushing away one of the loose tendrils from Sam's face.

"What are you going to name her?" Vala asked, trying not to get choked up at the sight of the small family or at the twisted memory of her own daughter's birth.

Sam looked at Jack for a moment. She'd told him of the little girl she'd seen on board the _Prometheus_ only a few months ago, and he'd agreed that the tribute would be acceptable. He gave her a small and supportive smile as he nodded.

Finally, she looked back at Vala. "Grace," she said with a small smile. "We're going to name her Grace."


	28. Grace

_A week later:_

"To Grace Jacqueline Carter-O'Neill and her parents..." Jack read from the card on one of the thousands of stuffed animals they'd received in honor of their daughter's birth. He looked up at Sam. "Why did we name her after me again?"

"Because you said I could choose the middle name by myself, and I like the name Jacqueline." She said with a chuckle. "I always have, and I probably always will - especially now that I have more than one reason to like it."

He rolled his eyes as he reached into the overflowing mound of gifts. "This one is from Teal'c." He said, pulling out a small rectangular gift.

Sam looked up from where she nursed baby Grace. "Oh?"

"Yeah, it's probably "Dora, the Explorer" or something like that..."

She laughed. "Jack..."

"What? The guy watches more TV than Vala!"

She shook her head as she looked down at the baby nursing at her breast and cooed, almost unconsciously.

"Should I open it?"

"Should you not?" She returned with a cheeky wink.

"Okay, okay..."

He unwrapped the gift, and stared at it, puzzled for a moment.

"What is it?" Sam asked, looking back at him.

"I don't know." He said, confused.

"What does it look like?"

"A DVD."

"And?"

"It's not Dora..." He said, perplexed.

She shook her head. "Okay..."

He showed her the nondescript DVD case. Sam looked at it, curiously. "That's my handwriting." She said, pointing to the label on the side.

"I know. It says "Grace"."

She looked at him, confused. "What does that mean?"

"Well...there's only one way to really find out, right?" Jack asked as he took the DVD from her and walked over to the combination TV and DVD player.

Sam watched the screen carefully as Jack sat back on the bed.

She inhaled sharply as she saw an image of herself appear on the screen. "Hi, Jack."

Jack looked at her, curiously.

She shrugged, indicating her own confusion.

"I'm sending you this message from the _Odyssey_ like I normally do, except this is a little different." The alternate timeline Sam said before inhaling. "I can't send it to you once I'm finished recording because we're in a time dilation field while I try to get us home."

Sam gasped as she realized what the DVD was. She looked at Jack. "Turn it off..."

"What? Why?"

"That's..." She began before she inhaled. "That's the alternate me..."

"Teal'c wouldn't have sent it to us if it was going to change our future..." Jack said, looking back at her.

"Jack..."

"Sam, please...I think we both want to know what happened while you were out there."

She sighed.

"It's not like Grace isn't already here, and it's not like we're not going to have a wonderful life together as a family." He said, gently.

"Okay..." She said, nodding.

The tape continued with the other Sam taking a deep breath. "Jack, you've probably heard by now that the Asgard home world was exploded. You've probably also heard that they did it on purpose. It was hard to watch, and I wish they hadn't done it, but they were determined." She took another deep breath. "Still, there's something else I need to tell you, and if I don't just say it, I may never say it. " She bit her lip and looked back at the camera. "Two weeks after I initiated the time dilation field, I began to suspect that I was pregnant."

Sam looked at Jack as she tried to imagine how alone she might have felt if he hadn't been there to help her remember how much he loved her.

"I don't know when this will find you," the tape continued. "But I'm going to do my best to document this because even though we never talked about it, I felt that you wanted to be there if you ever had any more children."

"She had that right." He said, looking back at her.

"I know." She said, nodding.

"Jack, no matter what happens, I want you to know that I love you. I always have, and I always will." She whispered with a trembling voice before she kissed her fingers and touched them to the lens of the camera. Just then, the video went black as the transmission ended.

Jack turned the tape off before he looked back at Sam. He could see her eyes moistening as she thought about what she had just seen.

"C'mere." He said, gently hugging her as tears began to fall at the thought of going through everything she'd been through without the support she'd needed and gotten from Jack.

Baby Grace pulled away from her mother's breast and uttered a tiny cry of protest.

"I think we're squishing her royal highness." Sam chuckled as he pulled away.

"Can't have that now, can we?" Jack asked, looking at the baby with an affectionate smile.

"That Sam may be different than I am in some ways..." Sam said, softly. "But our feelings for you..."

"I know." He said, looking back at her.

"I love you." She whispered, tenderly.

"I love you too, Sam." He said, leaning in and kissing her gently. "I love you too."

--

_I said this was the final installment of the series...I lied. Well, actually, that's not exactly true since I intended to end the series on this note, but changed my mind later. I guess that means I was merely mistaken. Stay tuned for the truly final installment in the series entitled "Reflections"_


End file.
